Author: David Shama

Here’s the batting order for the eight position players and designated hitter:

Rod Carew: the man who flirted with hitting .400 in a single season won seven league batting titles with the Twins while playing second base.

Joe Mauer: at 27 he’s already won three batting championships, one league MVP award and two Gold Glove awards for his catching.

Kirby Puckett: he dazzled in the field and at the plate for two World Series champions.  With a nod to teamwork, Puck plays in left field on this team so that Gold Glove winner Torii Hunter (seven times with the Twins) can play center.

Harmon Killebrew: an all-time slugger who struggled in the field and on the bases, the “Killer” hits cleanup as our DH and hits home runs with a frequency that no other Twins player has ever approached.

Tony Oliva: he had a strong arm playing in right field but it was his line drive hitting that made him one of baseball’s best in the talent rich 1960’s and early 1970’s while winning three league batting titles.

Justin Morneau: at 29 he still has much of his Twins career in front of him, but we’ve seen enough to put the 2006 American League Most Valuable Payer ahead of Kent Hrbek at first base.

Torii Hunter: just like his idol Puckett, Hunter made plenty of noise at bat, in the filed and around the clubhouse for the Twins.

Gary Gaetti: besides having one of the coolest nicknames in Twins history, the “G-Man” was a Gold Glove third baseman who hit for power.

Greg Gagne: consistency wins the shortstop competition and Gagne was that.  He was the shortstop on both the 1987 and 1991 World Series teams, and in 12 post season games in the Metrodome never committed an error.

Six subs give this all-time roster depth and versatility.

Cesar Tovar, a speedy Venezuelan, once played all nine positions in a single game for the Twins.  He can take a spot on our roster as a pinch runner and reserve outfielder and infielder.

No catcher plays much behind Joe Mauer, but Earl Battey was an All-Star receiver with a strong arm and productive bat for the Twins teams in the 1960s.

Those teams also included an erratic shortstop named Zoilo Versalles who settled down in 1965 and won the American League MVP award.

Another Twins award winner was Chuck Knoblauch who was the 1991 American League Rookie of the Year and also hit .341 in 1996 while playing second base for the Twins.

Knoblauch’s teammates included Kent Hrbek and you can’t leave the Bloomington native off the roster.  He was among the best first basemen of his era both in the field and at bat.

Long ago the Twins had a pinch hitter named Don Mincher.  The saying was this: “Send for ‘Minch’ in a pinch.”  We’ll go this way in a pinch: “By golly, it’s got to be Molly.”  Paul Molitor, playing here at the end of his career, was a Twin for just three seasons but his batting averages were .341, .305 and .285.

So there’s the 25 greatest Twins of all-time.  Fifty years from now every one of them will be remembered.

Mauer Power.  What’s happened with Joe Mauer’s home run production?

Last season the Twins extraordinary hitter won his third American League batting championship and first league MVP award when he hit .365 with 28 home runs.  The home run total was 15 more than any previous single season.

Mauer homered 11 times in May of last year after missing the first month of the season with a back problem.  This year Mauer been playing since the season started in April, but has homered only twice.

His grandfather Jake, a former pro baseball player, mentored Joe as a youngster, teaching him the game.  Jake told Sports Headliners the Twins didn’t play Joe enough in spring training and that’s contributed to the slow power start, along with a left heel injury.

“He should go through spring training just like anybody else but they babied the hell out of him,” Jake said.  “And they’re getting that result, no power.

“Just swinging and meeting the ball (right now).  That’s all he does.  But come the first of June you’ll see power…because he’s been working out at his house up in Braham in his weight room.  He’ll start hitting the long ball now.”

Jake said the heel injury that forced Joe to miss several games was about 80 percent healed a few days ago.  That recovery will help Joe hit a few home runs before May is over, according to Jake.

Joe won’t revert to his home run totals from 2003 to 2008 when his best total was 13 and next highest nine.  “He’ll get to 30,” Jake said.  “You watch.”

At 27 years old, Joe might be a year away from his physical peak.  “That’s when he’s going to hit .400,” Jake said.

No major leaguer has hit .400 since Ted Williams batted .406 in 1941.  Mauer’s best big league average is .365 last season.

With a history of injuries would Joe talk about switching positions?  Move from the physical demands of catching to a less punishing position?  “He will die a catcher,” Jake said.

Jake also said Joe is excited about this team, describing it as the best hitting club he’s played for and thinks the Twins may play in the World Series this fall.  The older Mauer said the Twins win on Sunday that ended a nine game losing streak against the Yankees is very positive for the players’ confidence.