Over the next few months, I'll be taking a weekly look at the history of each position on the diamond and figuring out who is the best of the best since the franchise moved to Minnesota. This means that only players from 1961-on will be considered, but I will be taking into account their entire tenures with the franchise for those who moved along with the team. You can find prior entries in the series linked below. Next Up: Shortstops!
Shortstop is one of baseball's premier positions. Everyone wants to play shortstop when they're a kid, and precious few major leaguers stick at the position and carve out distinguished careers. The Twins have had exactly ten guys I feel good about putting on this list- there's not been many between good and bad. To determine who the top shortstops in Twins history are, I'll be looking at a variety of criteria, including years with the team, number of games, bWAR, OPS+ (to compare different eras of baseball), home runs, stolen bases, fielding percentage, and accolades. Please note that the defensive stats will be based on their entire careers (third base only), mostly because Baseball Reference doesn't parse them out by team; batting stats will be for Twins years only. Who are the top ten in Twins history (according to me)?
The two-time World Series champion came off the bench for the Twins with a light bat and good fielding. He was the only play worth mentioning here.
7 Years - 671 Games - 5.7 bWAR - 97 OPS+ - 63 HR - 11 SB - .979 Fielding %
Two things surprised me about our dear Fogo-loving Eduardo: his stats were not nearly as good as I expected, and he played more shortstop than third base with the Twins. Nevertheless, he was a fan favorite and he makes the list.
5 Years - 324 Games - 9.0 bWAR - 87 OPS+ - 10 HR - 39 SB - .968 Fielding %
Jason Bartlett had his best years with the Rays, but really came into his own on the Twins as a prototypical Gardenhire light-hitting infielder who played good defense and did the little things well. He had a great 2007 season before leaving, amassing 4.6 bWAR.
6 Years - 742 Games - 6.0 bWAR - 76 OPS+ - 41 HR - 42 SB - .965 Fielding %
Pat Meares held down shortstop during some down years with the Twins, but showed more pop than most of the shortstops in Twins history (not saying a lot). I'm not old enough to have watched him, but remember his funky batting stance from Major League Baseball for N64.
6 Years - 841 Games - 7.6 bWAR - 76 OPS+ - 39 HR - 102 SB - .970 Fielding % - All-Star
Taking the torch from Meares both on this list and in real life, Cristian Guzman also had shockingly similar stats to Meares. He gets the nod here due to his far superior speed on the basepaths.
3 Years - 473 Games - 11.1 bWAR - 98 OPS+ - 39 HR - 10 SB - .971 Fielding % - All-Star
Better remembered for his years with the Reds, Cardenas came over for his age-30 season and posted 5.1 bWAR. He was pretty much average at the plate (which is more than can be said about a lot of shortstops), but sterling in the field.
10 Years - 1140 Games - 17.9 bWAR - 83 OPS+ - 69 HR - 79 SB - .972 Fielding %
I might catch some flak for having Gagne this low, but the two-time World Series champ doesn't quite stack up with the guys ahead of him, and longevity isn't enough to put him over in my opinion. He was, however, a great defender with some pop at the plate and speed on the basepaths.
9 Years - 1109 Games - 14.7 bWAR - 86 OPS+ - 87 HR - 85 SB - .956 Fielding % - MVP, 2x All-Star, 2x Gold Glover
The first shortstop in Twins history had a very strange career. Simultaneously the worst defender on this list (by F%) and the only Twins shortstop to ever win a Gold Glove. A 7.2 bWAR season that won him an MVP in 1965 was his only season with more than 2.6 despite being a full-time player for 9 years. Without that short peak, Versalles would be much lower on the list.
10 Years - 832 Games - 17.2 bWAR - 111 OPS+ - 112 HR - 51 SB - .959 Fielding % - All-Star
Never a great defender at short, I remember when Polanco came up for the first time and the ball just came off his bat different. Line drives, loud and hard. By the time he was done with the Twins, he held the lead for home runs by a primary shortstop in team history, and he's the first guy we've talked about where you look at the stats and go "Wow, what a player".
3 Years - 357 Games - 10.4 bWAR - 124 OPS+ - 54 HR - 0 SB - .982 Fielding % - All-Star
Recency bias? Maybe. Numbers 5-3 may have an argument here, but C4 has done more in 357 games with the Twins than most shortstop have in their entire careers here. Unfortunately, I think that most fans focus so much on how often he can't play, they take for granted just how great he's been when he does play. Here's hoping for a healthy 2025 for our current starting shortstop.
10 Years - 1148 Games - 20.9 bWAR - 104 OPS+ - 110 HR - 15 SB - .964 Fielding % - All-Star
Roy Smalley wasn't spectacular, although he did approach it in 1978 and 1979. He was just really good, year in and year out, for a lot of years. Longevity with the stats to back it up? That's an all-time Twin. Smalley was by all accounts a great guy, and served the organization for 22 years as a broadcaster before hanging up the headset this offseason. We wish the Greatest Twins Shortstop of All Time well wishes in his retirement!
What do you think? Who did I miss? Who do I overrate, and who do I underrate? I'm expecting this list to have more dissent than some previous ones. Let me know in the comments! I'll be back next week as we move to the outfield.