Who Are the 5 Best Hitters in Minnesota Twins History?

5. Joe Mauer

Seasons with Minnesota: 15

Batting line: .306/.388/.439

Drafted first overall in 2001, Mauer, the hometown kid, had high expectations entering the big leagues. He certainly delivered. From 2004 to 2010, Mauer hit a ridiculous .327/.407/.481 with 81 home runs in 836 games. He won the MVP Award in 2009 after leading baseball in batting average (.365), on-base percentage (.444), slugging percentage (.587), and OPS (1.031). His OPS+ of 171 ranks fourth all-time in Twins history and is tied with Buster Posey for the fourth best season ever by a catcher.

Mauer’s patience and hit tool were nearly unforeseen, and especially for a catcher. He finished his career with less than 100 more strikeouts (1,034) than walks (939), and his .388 on-base percentage ranks third behind Rod Carew and Chuck Knoblauch. His final five years are exaggerated because of the massive contract and switch to first base, but Mauer still hit .278/.359/.388 and was an above-average hitter with an OPS+ of 105. Mauer didn’t really get the supporting cast to bring a World Series to Minnesota, but Phil Cuzzi didn’t help either.

4. Tony Oliva

Seasons with Minnesota: 15 (1962-1976)

Batting line: .304/.353/.476

“Tony O” spent his entire career with the Twins. Oliva won Rookie of the Year in the Twins’ inaugural season after hitting .323/.359/.557 with 32 homers. Oliva led the league in batting average, hits, runs, doubles, and total bases. He wouldn’t surpass the 30 homer threshold for the rest of his career, but still ranks fourth in Twins history in home runs (220). Oliva won the batting title again in 1964, 1965, and 1971.

In his eight year stretch of consecutive All-Star appearances from 1964-1971, Oliva hit .313/.360/.507 with an average OPS+ of 140. He received MVP votes in all eight seasons and ranks just behind Killebrew in offensive WAR among Twins during that span (37.4). A contact king, Oliva walked at just a 6.5% rate and struck out in 9.9% of his plate appearances in his heyday. In 13 postseason games, Oliva hit .314/.340/.588 with 3 homers.

3. Kirby Puckett

Seasons with Minnesota: 12

Batting line: .318/.360/.477

Puck entered the league in 1984 and displayed little to no power. He hit .292/.325/.363 with just four home runs in his first 289 games. In 1986, Kirby burst out with 31 homers and a .903 OPS and was voted into his first of 10 consecutive All-Star Games. From 1987 to 1991, Puckett hit .330/.368/.492 with 88 home runs in 772 games. He was far-and-away the Twins’ leader in offensive WAR (26.1) and RBI (474) during that span.

Puckett, while a consistently great hitter, is best known for his postseason heroics. In over 100 playoff plate appearances, Puckett hit .309/.361/.536 with 10 extra-base hits and 16 RBI. Kirby hit .357 to help the Twins secure their first World Series in 1987. On October 6, 1991, Puckett went 3-for-4 in an elimination Game 6 against Atlanta in the World Series. Oh, and he also hit the biggest home run in franchise history in that same game.

2. Harmon Killebrew

Seasons with Minnesota: 14 (1961-1974)

Batting line: .260/.383/.518

Killer’s power was video-game like. He hit over 40 home runs in seven seasons and ranks 12th all-time with 573 in his career. In his first season after the Washington Senators became the Minnesota Twins in 1961, Killebrew hit .288/.405/.606 with 46 home runs. No one in baseball hit more homers during the 1960s than Killer (393).

Killebrew owns the 4th highest on-base percentage in Twins history (.383) because of his immense hitting ability and strong 16% walk rate. Killer led the league in walks four times and was intentionally walked more than any Twin ever (152). Killebrew leads Twins history in slugging percentage (.518), OPS (.901), homers (475), and RBI (1,325).

In 1969, Killer appeared in all 162 games and hit .276/.427/.584 with 49 home runs. He won the MVP award and barely saw any strikes in an ALCS sweep at the hands of Baltimore. Here are the highest OPS+ seasons in Twins history:

1. Rod Carew - 1977 (178)

2. Harmon Killebrew - 1969 (177)

3. Harmon Killebrew - 1967 (173)

4. Joe Mauer - 2009 (171)

5. Nelson Cruz - 2019 (166)

6. Bob Allison - 1964 (163)

7. Harmon Killebrew - 1961 (162)

8. Harmon Killebrew - 1970 (159)

T-9. Harmon Killebrew - 1966 (157)

T-9. Rod Carew - 1975 (157)

1. Rod Carew

Seasons with Minnesota: 12 (1967-1978)

Batting line: .334/.393/.448

Rodney Cline won the batting title seven times and hit over .300 in 15 of his 19 seasons. Carew is the Twins’ all-time leader in average (.334), on-base percentage (.393), and offensive WAR (63.8). In his prime from 1972 to 1978, Carew dominated baseball with a .350 average. The 38 point difference between Carew and the second-placed Pete Rose was more than that of Rose and the 20th-ranked Reggie Jackson.

Carew’s banner season was his MVP campaign in 1977. In his age-31 and second to last season in Minnesota, Carew hit .388/.449/.570 and led the league in hits, runs, batting average, on-base percentage, triples, OPS and WAR. Carew finished his career with 3,053 hits, including 445 doubles, 112 triples and 92 home runs. Unfortunately, he never appeared in a World Series and hit just .220/.291/.300 in 14 career postseason games. Carew was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991 after receiving 401 of 443 votes on the first ballot. Here are the top 10 offensive WAR seasons in Twins history:

1. Carew - 1977 (8.9)

2. Carew - 1974 (8.3)

3. Killebrew - 1969 (7.9)

4. Mauer - 2009 (7.7)

T-5. Carew - 1975 (7.5)

T-5. Knoblauch - 1996 (7.5)

7. Killebrew - 1967 (7.3)

T-8. Puckett - 1988 (7.1)

T-8. Killebrew - 1966 (7.1)

10. Carew - 1979 (7.0)

What do you think? Who are the the five best Twins hitters ever? Comment below!

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