Monday (The Twins and a rare home run milestone) edition: Wha' Happened?

While the Twins rank 23rd in MLB in homers right now with 93, they could strangely have a banner year when it comes to the number of players reaching double-digits in home runs.

July 29, 2013 at 4:56PM
Minnesota Twins' Chris Colabello is congratulated on his two-run home run against the Seattle Mariners in the second inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 28, 2013, in Seattle.
Minnesota Twins' Chris Colabello is congratulated on his two-run home run against the Seattle Mariners in the second inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 28, 2013, in Seattle. (Associated Press - Ap/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Twins of 2013 will not be remembered as a bunch of burly home run hitters. After all, they are more than 100 games into the season and their co-leaders in that department (Josh Willingham and Trevor Plouffe) have 10 apiece.

But let's fixate on that number 10 just a little while longer. While there is no one slugger in the lineup bashing home runs at an even modest 20-dinger pace, there are already eight players with at least eight homers. One of them (Chris Parmelee) is in the minors now. Another, Justin Morneau, could be traded in the next couple of days.

Let's say, though, for the sake of fun, that Parmelee is recalled at some point in the season and Morneau stays. The eight guys with eight each or more (Joe Mauer, Brian Dozier, Aaron Hicks and Ryan Doumit plus the four already mentioned) are all reasonable bets to reach 10. Pedro Florimon, who has shown some decent pop and figures to be the everyday shortstop for the final 60 games, has six. He could reasonably get to 10. Chris Colabello has two already and should get a decent look at various positions down the stretch (more so if Morneau gets traded, but that blows up what we're doing here, so let's pretend he still gets at bats regardless). He could get to 10 based on his minor league track record this season. Oswaldo Arcia had six before he was sent out again. He could be recalled and get to 10 quite easily.

The point being: If things broke right, the Twins could have 10 guys with double-digit home runs. We went back as far as 1987 to see if that had ever happened, and at least between 1987-2012 it has not happened for the Twins. The closest was 2004, when nine guys reached double-figures and Matt LeCroy just missed it at 9. They had eight guys do it in two other seasons and seven guys do it four other seasons. As few as three guys did it three years, the most recent being 2008.

So while the Twins rank 23rd in MLB in homers right now with 93 total, they could strangely have a banner year when it comes to the double-digit benchmark.

about the writer

about the writer

Michael Rand

Columnist / Reporter

Michael Rand is the Minnesota Star Tribune's Digital Sports Senior Writer and host/creator of the Daily Delivery podcast. In 25 years covering Minnesota sports at the Minnesota Star Tribune, he has seen just about everything (except, of course, a Vikings Super Bowl).

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