1992 Minnesota Twins season

March 2026 November 2013 Minnesota Twins 1992 American League West Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Minneapolis 90–72 (90 72) 2nd Carl Pohlad Andy MacPhail Tom Kelly WCCO-TVMidwest Sports Channel (Jim Kaat, Ted Robinson, Dick Bremer, Tom Mee) 830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, John Gordon) The 1992 Minnesota Twins season was the 32nd season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 11th season at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and the 92nd overall in the American League. Coming off a World Series victory, the Twins continued the team's winning spree. The team finished in second place to the Oakland Athletics and did not make it to the postseason. This would be the team's last winning season until 2001. Offseason January 29, 1992: Bill Krueger was signed as a free agent by the Twins.Bill Krueger at Baseball Reference March 17, 1992: Denny Neagle and Midre Cummings were traded by the Twins to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher John Smiley.John Smiley at Baseball Reference March 28, 1992: Paul Sorrento was traded by the Twins to the Cleveland Indians for Oscar Múñoz and Curt Leskanic.Paul Sorrento at Baseball Reference Regular season The Twins' All-Star representatives at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego were outfielder Kirby Puckett, closer Rick Aguilera and second baseman Chuck Knoblauch. On July 24, pitcher Scott Erickson threw the only complete-game one-hitter in Twins history -- Tom Brunansky got the only hit for the Boston Red Sox. In a 6–2 win over Seattle on September 9, the Twins stole six bases to set a single-game club record. On September 27, Tom Kelly won his 523rd game as Twins manager, more than any other skipper in team history. Chili Davis joined Roy Smalley Jr., on October 2, as the only Twins to homer from both sides of the plate in a single game. Davis went right-handed off Kansas City's Chris Haney, then left-handed off Steve Shifflett. The highest paid Twin in 1992 was John Smiley at $3,400,000, followed by Hrbek at $3,100,000. Offense Outfielder Kirby Puckett got 200 hits for the fifth time in his career, as well as 100 runs and 100 RBI. He also hit over .300 for the seventh time in nine seasons. Finally, he hit the first three grand slams of his career. He was twice named American League Player of the Month. Puckett would go on to win his fifth Silver Slugger Award. Chuck Knoblauch and Shane Mack also notched 100 runs, making Puckett, Knoblauch, and Mack the first trio of Twins in team history to score 100 times in a season. First baseman Kent Hrbek began his fight against the injury bug, getting only 394 at-bats, a number that would decline over the next two years. Catcher Brian Harper had the second of three seasons batting over .300. Scott Leius saw a majority of the time at third base, but hit only .249 with 2 home runs. In his last year with the Twins, shortstop Greg Gagne hit .246 — right around his career average. Pedro Muñoz saw a majority of the time in right field, while Chili Davis served as the designated hitter in his second and last year with the Twins. + Team Leaders Statistic Player QuantityHR Kirby Puckett 19RBI Kirby Puckett 110BA Kirby Puckett .329Runs Kirby Puckett and Chuck Knoblauch 104 Pitching The first four pitchers in the starting rotation had winning records and solid ERAs, including John Smiley (16–9, 3.21), Kevin Tapani (16–11, 3.97), Scott Erickson (13–12, 3.40), and Bill Krueger (10–6, 4.30). The fifth spot in the rotation was a question mark, with Pat Mahomes making 13 mediocre starts, Willie Banks 12 poor starts, and Mike Trombley 7 reasonably capable ones. The bullpen was outstanding, anchored by closer Rick Aguilera. Aguilera earned 41 saves, and became the Twins' all-time leader in saves on September 1 when he earned his 109th with the team. The four regular arms in the bullpen all had ERAs under three: Carl Willis, Mark Guthrie, Tom Edens, and Gary Wayne. + Team Leaders Statistic Player QuantityERA John Smiley 3.21Wins John Smiley and Kevin Tapani 16Saves Rick Aguilera 41Strikeouts John Smiley 163 Defense As expected for a Tom Kelly team, the defense was strong. Puckett would win the last of his six Gold Glove Awards. Hrbek was always strong at first base (although Don Mattingly prevented him from winning a Gold Glove), as was Knoblauch at second (at least at this point in his career). Gagne was a capable shortstop, but Leius was a question mark at third with a .955 fielding percentage. Mack and Muñoz had good years defensively alongside Puckett. Season standings Minnesota Twins Record vs. opponents MIN Notable transactions January 7, 1992: Mauro Gozzo was signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Twins.https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gozzoma01.shtml Mauro Gozzo Stats - Baseball-Reference.com Baseball-Reference.com April 15, 1992: Enrique Wilson was signed as an amateur free agent by the Twins.Enrique Wilson at Baseball Reference June 1, 1992: 1992 Major League Baseball draft Dan Serafini was drafted by the Twins in the 1st round (26th pick).Dan Serafini at Baseball Reference Gus Gandarillas was drafted by the Twins in the 3rd round.Gus Gandarillas at Baseball Reference Dan Naulty was drafted by the Twins in the 14th round.Dan Naulty at Baseball Reference Scott Watkins was drafted by the Twins in the 23rd round.Scott Watkins at Baseball Reference August 31, 1992: Bill Krueger was traded by the Twins to the Montreal Expos for Darren Reed. November 17, 1992: Jayhawk Owens was drafted by the Colorado Rockies from the Minnesota Twins as the 23rd pick in the 1992 expansion draft.https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/owensja02.shtml Jayhawk Owens Stats - Baseball-Reference.com Baseball-Reference.com Roster 1992 Minnesota Twins Roster Pitchers 37 Paul Abbott 38 Rick Aguilera 23 Willie Banks 48 Larry Casian 59 Tom Edens 19 Scott Erickson 52 Mauro Gozzo 53 Mark Guthrie 16 Bob Kipper 22 Bill Krueger 20 Pat Mahomes 57 John Smiley 36 Kevin Tapani 21 Mike Trombley 47 Gary Wayne 39 David West 51 Carl Willis Catchers 12 Brian Harper 16 Derek Parks 15 Lenny Webster Infielders  7 Greg Gagne  2 Donnie Hill 14 Kent Hrbek 27 Terry Jorgensen 11 Chuck Knoblauch  9 Gene Larkin 31 Scott Leius 13 Mike Pagliarulo 49 Luis Quiñones 17 Jeff Reboulet Outfielders 33 Bernardo Brito  1 Jarvis Brown 26 J.T. Bruett 25 Randy Bush 24 Shane Mack  5 Pedro Muñoz 34 Kirby Puckett 18 Darren Reed Other batters 44 Chili Davis Manager 10 Tom Kelly Coaches 46 Terry Crowley (hitting) 35 Ron Gardenhire (third base) 43 Rick Stelmaszek (bullpen) 42 Dick Such (pitching) 45 Wayne Terwilliger (first base) Player stats = Indicates team leader = Indicates league leader Batting Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C Brian Harper 140 502 154 .307 9 73 1B Kent Hrbek 112 394 96 .244 15 58 2B Chuck Knoblauch 155 600 178 .297 2 56 3B Scott Leius 129 409 102 .249 2 35 SS Greg Gagne 146 439 108 .246 7 39 LF Shane Mack 156 600 189 .315 16 75 CF Kirby Puckett 160 639 210 .329 19 110 RF Pedro Muñoz 127 418 113 .270 12 71 DH Chili Davis 138 444 128 .288 12 66 Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI Gene Larkin 115 337 83 .246 6 42 Randy Bush 100 182 39 .214 2 22 Jeff Reboulet 73 137 26 .190 1 16 Lenny Webster 53 118 33 .280 1 13 Mike Pagliarulo 42 105 21 .200 0 9 J.T. Bruett 56 76 19 .250 0 2 Terry Jorgensen 22 58 18 .310 0 5 Donnie Hill 25 51 15 .294 0 2 Darren Reed 14 33 6 .182 0 4 Jarvis Brown 35 15 1 .067 0 0 Bernardo Brito 8 14 2 .143 0 2 Derek Parks 7 6 2 .333 0 0 Luis Quiñones 3 5 1 .200 0 1 Pitching Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO John Smiley 34 241.0 16 9 3.21 163 Kevin Tapani 34 220.0 16 11 3.97 138 Scott Erickson 32 212.0 13 12 3.40 101 Bill Krueger 27 161.1 10 6 4.30 86 Willie Banks 16 71.0 4 4 5.70 37 Pat Mahomes 14 69.2 3 4 5.04 44 Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Mike Trombley 10 46.1 3 2 3.30 38 David West 9 28.1 1 3 6.99 19 Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO Rick Aguilera 64 2 6 41 2.84 52 Carl Willis 59 7 3 1 2.72 45 Mark Guthrie 54 2 3 5 2.88 76 Tom Edens 52 6 3 3 2.83 57 Gary Wayne 41 3 3 0 2.63 29 Bob Kipper 25 3 3 0 4.42 22 Paul Abbott 6 0 0 0 3.27 13 Larry Casian 6 1 0 0 2.70 2 Mauro Gozzo 2 0 0 0 27.00 1 Other post-season awards Calvin R. Griffith Award (Most Valuable Twin) – Kirby Puckett Joseph W. Haynes Award (Twins Pitcher of the Year) – John Smiley Bill Boni Award (Twins Outstanding Rookie) – Mike Trombley Charles O. Johnson Award (Most Improved Twin) – Mark Guthrie Dick Siebert Award (Upper Midwest Player of the Year) – Dave Winfield The above awards are voted on by the Twin Cities chapter of the BBWAA Sherry Robertson Award (Twins Outstanding Farm System Player) – Marty Cordova Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Portland Beavers Pacific Coast League Scott Ullger AA Orlando Sun Rays Southern League Phil Roof A Visalia Oaks California League Steve Liddle A Fort Myers Miracle Florida State League Dan Rohn A Kenosha Twins Midwest League Jim Dwyer Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Ray Smith Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Jim LemonJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007 References External links Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com Twins history through the 1990s, from www.mlb.com 1992 Standings Category:Minnesota Twins seasons Minnesota Twins Twins