Miguel Sano and Minnesota’s Legendary Defensive History at First Base

Never saw Vic Power.   Mienkiewecz and Morneau were very good.   Mauer was probably deserving of a Gold Glove.   Hrbek was definitely deserving of at least one.   My memory of Carew was that he was just ok.    I know killebrew was listed at 6'0 but he seemed shorter and just didn't seem like a good target.   I felt like he was less of a defensive liability at 3rd base.    First base isn't just about making the plays you are expected to make.   Its about saving errors for your teammates whether through good scoops or good reach.     I just remember thinking Killebrew and Carew didn't have it.

Will second Seth's comments and those above about Mauer, Morneau and Mientkiewecz. 

Don't know how good Sano will be at first.  Maybe he will be ok, maybe not.  Doubt he will be a gold glove candidate, but who knows.   Also don't know how good Kirilloff is defensively.  Expect his bat will force him into the Twins lineup by this time next year at the latest.  Will he be a better option at first if Sano isn't at least adequate?  Certainly could see Kirilloff settling in at first with Sano getting about a third of the games there and the rest at DH...assuming Cruz is gone next year, which isn't a given.

I'll echo the above comments that Mienkiewecz and Morneau are obvious omissions, but I had no idea until reading this article that Carew spent so much time at first, had always thought that he played the vast majority of his career at second and only moved over to first in the twilight of his career.

I'll echo the above comments that Mienkiewecz and Morneau are obvious omissions, but I had no idea until reading this article that Carew spent so much time at first, had always thought that he played the vast majority of his career at second and only moved over to first in the twilight of his career.

Sometimes it gets lost that Carew's seven batting titles would have been eight if he hadn't lost an ACL in a (now illegal) collision at second base in 1970...was .366/.407/.524 after 200 PA when it happened. The move was made to removed that possibility as he continued to increase his offensive value in the subsequent years.

I never saw the first two, and only remember Herbek in the end of his career.  Joe was fine, if he would have played whole career there he most likely would have got some gold gloves.  Doug was the best I ever seen play in Twins uniform on defense, got to love the bare hand batting and sitting in lucky spot on floor of dugout too for Dougie baseball. 

I have always said, good defending first baseman never get enough credit.  Sure you can put the heavy hitter there than can only catch good throws and just blame all the bad throws on the one throwing, but a good defender saves so many bad throws and turns them into outs.   Half of amazing stops require amazing grabs from first basemen because it is not easy to get a good throw on amazing stops.  Without those grabs by first basemen the amazing stop means nothing.  

As long as Sano does not look like he did in RF, I think he will hit enough.  Twins have heavy fly ball pitching, and teams trying to hit more fly balls too so hopefully the weak infield defense does not mean anything. 

IMO, easy to make an argument that Hrbek was the Twins all-timer at first base (if defense is a part of the evaluation). Obviously, a case can be made for others.

FWIW, I think a huge portion of current observers don't remember that Killebrew really wasn't a "first-baseman" in his prime. A high percentage of his games at first occurred after age and injuries had taken their toll, and he was playing out his career. Killebrew played more than 80 games at first for exactly 3 of his 'prime' Twins seasons...'61, '67, and '71. And through 1971 (his last good season), he had played more 3B than 1B for the Twins. Many memories (and the numbers) don't do justice to the fact that, in his prime, Killebrew was a decently athletic guy that could play third and first and that was at least average when playing first base.

Games started at 1B for Twins through age 34 season...

Killebrew - 557

Hrbek - 1566

Games started at 1B for Twins after age 34 season...

Killebrew - 298 (more than a third of the games he ever started at 1B for the Twins)

Hrbek - 0

Meanwhile, Hrbek was better than good defensively. Historically underrated there, IMO. Really good feet, really good hands. One of the best I've ever seen at going back on pop fouls. All while providing that value at a 140 games per season clip for a long time.