The Best Players in Minnesota Twins History, Position by Position

By 4Baseball Staff · November 5, 2026 · 11 min read

An all-time Minnesota Twins team, Washington Senators years included, with a lineup, rotation and bullpen chosen from club career totals, awards and Hall of Fame service and with the criteria spelled out.

The Minnesota Twins have the strangest all-time team in the American League, because half of it played in another city. The franchise was the Washington Senators from 1901 through 1960 and the Minnesota Twins from 1961 on, and its record books treat the two as one club. The leader in career wins, strikeouts and shutouts is Walter Johnson, who finished pitching in 1927. The leader in career home runs is Harmon Killebrew, who joined Washington in 1954 and played for the franchise through 1974. The hits leader is Sam Rice, who last played for the club in 1933 after a career with it that began in 1915.

That makes the Twins a good test of how to build an all-time team. If you start the clock in 1961 you get a very different, more modern roster. If you count the whole franchise you get a roster full of Hall of Famers who never saw Minnesota and a pitcher whose totals no one is likely to approach. This article counts the whole franchise, says where the choice would change if you do not, and leans on the 2025 historical for every number, which means stats while with the club only.

How the team was chosen, and what the database cannot see

Each position was decided by four things. The first was production with the franchise: counting totals, rate statistics where there were enough at-bats, and the length of time a player held the job. The second was recognition, meaning Most Valuable Player, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards won with the club, plus Hall of Fame membership for players who had four or more seasons there. The third was position: a player must have played the position for a large share of his games. The fourth was a quiet tiebreak for the player whose peak did the most to carry a pennant.

The historical record carries no wins above replacement, so there is no number that blends bat, glove and legs into one rating. It has no defensive metrics for most of the years involved, so great fielders are credited on reputation. It lumps the three outfield spots in the fielding table I used, so left, center and right are assigned by habit. And it cannot adjust for the era. A .323 hitter in the 1920s and a .318 hitter in the late 1980s are not equivalent, because the leagues were scoring runs at different rates.

Finally, careers split across franchises are cut off at the border. Joe Cronin, Goose Goslin and Heinie Manush each had famous seasons elsewhere, and David Ortiz became a star only after leaving Minnesota. The totals below are only what each man did for the Senators or the Twins.

Catcher: Joe Mauer, the easiest call on the roster

Joe Mauer played 1,858 games for the Twins from 2004 to 2018, hit .306 with a .388 on-base percentage and a .439 slugging percentage, and collected 2,123 hits, the fourth highest total in club history. He was the 2009 Most Valuable Player. He won the league batting title in 2006, 2008 and 2009, with averages of .347, .328 and .365.

His 921 games at catcher and 603 at first base show what happened to his career: he began as a catcher and moved off the position later. The pick is not close. The runner-up is Earl Battey, who caught 967 games from 1960 to 1967 and hit .277 with 91 home runs, a very solid player but a distant second in offense. Rick Ferrell, a Hall of Famer, caught 634 games for the Senators and hit .273 with a .374 on-base percentage but only three home runs in 2,080 at-bats. Muddy Ruel caught 874 games in the 1920s. Neither threatens Mauer.

First base and designated hitter: Killebrew first, then a long queue

Harmon Killebrew is the franchise's home run king, with 559, and its run-production king, with 1,540 runs batted in and 1,505 walks. He played 963 games at first base, 791 at third base and 470 in the outfield, a utility profile that makes him a candidate nearly anywhere. He won the 1969 Most Valuable Player award and led the American League in home runs in 1959 (tied with Rocky Colavito), 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967 (tied with Carl Yastrzemski) and 1969. His batting average, .258, looks unimpressive until you notice the .378 on-base percentage and .514 slugging percentage that go with it.

I have put him at first base, his most frequent position, which means the Twins' other first basemen wait their turn. Kent Hrbek played 1,609 games there, hit 293 home runs and drove in 1,086 runs. Justin Morneau, the 2006 Most Valuable Player, played 1,124 games at first base and hit 221 home runs. Joe Judge played 2,025 games there for the Senators from 1915 to 1932, hitting .299 with 2,291 hits and 210 stolen bases. Mickey Vernon had 1,775 games at first base and 1,993 hits. In a franchise without one great first baseman, it has five very good ones.

Designated hitter goes to Tony Oliva, who won the 1964 Rookie of the Year award, led the American League in batting average in 1964 and 1965, and hit .304 with 220 home runs and 1,917 hits over 15 seasons. Oliva's case is partly about how his career ended: knee problems cut his time in the field, and the American League introduced the designated hitter in 1973, late in his career. That is a story the database only hints at through his games in the outfield, 1,178 of 1,676, but it is well documented in the club's history. If you prefer a lineup with no designated hitter, Oliva moves to right field and Sam Rice to the bench.

Second base: Rod Carew over everybody

Rod Carew played 12 seasons for Minnesota, 1967 through 1978, and hit .334 with a .393 on-base percentage, 2,085 hits and 271 stolen bases. He was the 1967 Rookie of the Year and the 1977 Most Valuable Player, when he batted .388. He led the American League in batting average in seasons that include 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977 and 1978. He played 1,128 games at second base and 466 at first base, and he is in the Hall of Fame.

The competition is respectable but not close. Chuck Knoblauch, the 1991 Rookie of the Year, played 1,000 games at second base for the Twins from 1991 to 1997 and hit .304 with a .391 on-base percentage and 276 stolen bases, a higher total than Carew's. Buddy Myer played 1,339 games at second base for the Senators between 1925 and 1941 and hit .303 with 864 walks. Brian Dozier hit 167 home runs in 955 games for the club from 2012 to 2018, 865 of them at second base. Carew is the pick because he matched Knoblauch's on-base percentage (.393 against .391) with 30 more points of batting average and stayed twice as long.

Shortstop and third base: where the franchise goes thin

Shortstop is a contest between a modern club legend and a Senators Hall of Famer. Joe Cronin played 935 games at shortstop for Washington from 1928 to 1934 and hit .304 with a .387 on-base percentage and a .455 slugging percentage, with 673 runs batted in. Zoilo Versalles was the 1965 Most Valuable Player and played 1,106 games at the position for the Twins, but his career line with the club is .250, .296 and .383, which does not compare. Greg Gagne played 1,112 games with a .249 average and a .292 on-base percentage, and Cecil Travis, who hit .314 across 1,328 games, mixed shortstop and third base. Cronin's bat is the reason he is on the list.

At third base the argument is between the patient man and the power man. Eddie Yost played 1,625 games at third base for Washington from 1944 to 1958 and drew 1,274 walks, second in club history behind Killebrew. His .253 average becomes a .389 on-base percentage. Gary Gaetti played 1,311 games there between 1981 and 1990 and hit 201 home runs with a .307 on-base percentage. Corey Koskie, in only 816 games, hit .280 with a .373 on-base percentage and 101 home runs, a better rate line than Gaetti's.

I picked Yost for the length of his stay and for what his on-base percentage did to the top of a lineup. A Minnesota fan who wants a bigger bat will prefer Gaetti, and that is a defensible choice. Killebrew's 791 games at third base give a lineup-builder another option: play him there, put Hrbek at first, and you gain a 293-home-run bat and lose Yost's walks.

The outfield: Goslin, Puckett and Rice

Kirby Puckett is the center fielder. He played 12 seasons, 1984 through 1995, and collected 2,304 hits, which is second in club history. He hit .318 with a .360 on-base percentage and a .477 slugging percentage, with 207 home runs and 1,085 runs batted in. He led the American League with a .339 average in 1989. He was a Hall of Famer, and the Twins won the World Series in 1987 and 1991 with him in the lineup. In Game 6 of the 1991 Series he hit a home run in the 11th inning to force a seventh game.

Goose Goslin is in left field. Over 1921 through 1938 he hit .323 with a .386 on-base percentage and a .502 slugging percentage, with 127 home runs and 931 runs batted in. He is a Hall of Famer, and he played for the Senators in the years they won the pennant in 1924 and 1925, the first of which brought the World Series over the Giants, 4-3. Sam Rice takes right field, with 2,889 hits, 346 stolen bases, 1,466 runs and a .323 average across 19 seasons, the most hits of anyone to wear the uniform.

Several excellent outfielders are left off. Torii Hunter played 1,319 games in the outfield and hit 214 home runs. Clyde Milan stole 495 bases between 1907 and 1922, which remains the club record. Heinie Manush, a Hall of Famer, hit .328 in six seasons. Bob Allison, the 1959 Rookie of the Year, hit 256 home runs in 1,320 outfield games. And Oliva, as above, belongs here if you drop the designated hitter.

The rotation: Walter Johnson, and a hard fight for the rest

Walter Johnson is the first name on the pitching staff and probably the first name on the roster. He won 417 games for the franchise, struck out 3,509 batters, threw 110 shutouts and posted a 2.17 earned run average over 5,914 innings. He was the American League Most Valuable Player in 1913 and 1924. The 1924 World Series title, the franchise's only one in Washington, is tied to his career: he pitched in relief in the deciding game.

After Johnson, I used a left-handed workhorse, a Hall of Fame right-hander, an ace of the 2000s and a star of the 1960s. Jim Kaat won 190 games and struck out 1,851 in 15 seasons from 1959 to 1973. Bert Blyleven won 149 and struck out 2,035 in 11 seasons for the Twins. Johan Santana, who won the Cy Young Award in 2004 and 2006, went 93-44 with a 3.22 earned run average and 1,381 strikeouts in eight seasons, a .679 winning percentage. Camilo Pascual won 145 games, threw 31 shutouts and struck out 1,885 batters between 1954 and 1966.

Four starters narrowly missed. Brad Radke won 148 games in 12 seasons and struck out 1,467, with a 4.22 earned run average that shows the era of high scoring in which he pitched. Jim Perry won the 1970 Cy Young Award and went 128-90. Frank Viola won the 1988 Cy Young Award, with 112 wins and 1,214 strikeouts in eight years. Early Wynn, a Hall of Famer, pitched eight seasons in Washington before his famous years in Cleveland and Chicago, winning 72 games with a 3.94 earned run average, not a mark that gets him on this roster.

Bullpen and manager

Joe Nathan holds the franchise record for saves, with 260, and posted a 2.16 earned run average across 463 innings between 2004 and 2011. Rick Aguilera is second, with 254 saves and a 3.50 earned run average over 1989 through 1999, and Eddie Guardado appeared in 648 games, the most of any Twin other than Johnson. Firpo Marberry is worth a note: he saved 96 games for the Senators in the 1920s and 1930s, a time when a relief specialist was a novelty, and started 134 of his 470 games, so he is a good illustration of how much the job has changed. Saves are credited retroactively in the database, and the comparison across eras should be taken lightly.

The manager is Tom Kelly, who went 1,140-1,244 in 2,386 games from 1986 to 2001 and won the 1987 and 1991 World Series. His overall record is below .500, which is why the two titles are the better measure of what he did. Ron Gardenhire, at 1,056-1,032 across 2002 to 2014, took the club to six division titles. Bucky Harris holds the games record, 2,776, with a 1,336-1,416 record, and his tenure begins in 1924, the year of the title in Washington.

The lineup in one table

Notice how the roster divides: four of the nine lineup players are from the Washington years before 1960 (Cronin, Yost, Goslin and Rice), Killebrew straddles the move, and four are Minnesotans from 1961 on (Mauer, Carew, Puckett and Oliva). The Hall of Fame list for the club has 15 players with four or more seasons, and 11 of them are on this roster. The Minnesota years supply the awards that most fans remember, with Most Valuable Player awards to Killebrew, Carew and Mauer.

Common questions

Why not use only the Minnesota years? Because the franchise's own record book does not. If you do, the lineup would become Mauer, Hrbek or Killebrew, Carew, Gagne or Versalles at shortstop, Gaetti, Oliva, Puckett and Hunter, and the rotation would have Blyleven, Kaat, Santana, Radke and Pascual. It is a better modern team and a worse all-time team.

Is Joe Mauer really better than Carew? The database cannot settle it, since position and era are different. Mauer's .388 on-base percentage and 939 walks show a more patient hitter, and Carew's .334 average and 271 steals show a more aggressive one. Both have a case for the best player of the Minnesota years.

What about Justin Morneau? His 2006 award and 221 home runs earn him a place on the bench. He played 1,278 games over 11 seasons, and he lost much of 2010 to a concussion, which the totals do not show.

Where does David Ortiz fit? He played six seasons for the Twins and hit .266 with 58 home runs, then became one of the best designated hitters of his time elsewhere. The numbers here are only his Minnesota ones, which are not close to the standard of this roster.

Where to go next

To follow the franchise through its eras, read the history of the Minnesota Twins, the Target Field guide and the best Twins seasons and every October run. For the division, the Chicago White Sox history, the Cleveland Guardians history and the Detroit Tigers history cover the other clubs, and the history of the World Series places 1924, 1987 and 1991 among all the champions. Live information is on the Twins team page and the Target Field page.