StaTuesday: Twins hitting homers like it's 2004

By foxsports
Published

Home runs are up across baseball this year, with major-league teams hitting them at the highest rate since 2000.

The Minnesota Twins are no exception, hitting home runs at their best rate in more than 10 years.

Minnesota is averaging 1.16 homers per game this season, a rate that would be its highest since 2004 and sixth-highest in team history. The team ranks 16th in the majors in home run per game, which would be its highest since it finished 13th in 2009.

The Twins haven't ranked in the top 10 in home runs per game since 1988.

Minnesota has led the majors in home runs twice -- in 1963 and 1964. Harmon Killebrew led the 1963 Twins with 45 home runs, while Bob Allison hit 35, Jimmie Hall hit 33 and Earl Battey hit 26. Killebrew hit an MLB-leading 49 the next season, while Allison and Tony Oliva added 32, Hall hit 25, Don Mincher hit 23 and Zolio Versalles hit 20. Minnesota finished 79-83 that season.

The Twins had five players with at least 20 home runs in 1986, led by Gary Gaetti with 34 and Kirby Puckett with 31. Four had at least 20 the following season, including three with at least 30, as the team went on to win the World Series.

That year was the start of an 18-season drought in which the Twins did not have a hitter with 30 home runs. Minnesota especially struggled to hit the long ball in 1999 and 2000, when they finished last in the majors in home runs. The Twins did not have a 20-home run hitter either of those seasons.

The Twins had a home run renaissance in 2004, when eight players hit at least 10, led by Corey Koskie's 25. That was also the last full season in which Minnesota averaged more than one home run per game.

This season, Minnesota already has four players (Brian Dozier, Miguel Sano, Eduardo Nunez and Byung Ho Park) with at least 12 home runs. Another, Max Kepler, has nine home runs in 50 games. Dozier, Sano and Nunez are on pace to reach at least 20 HRs on the season.

All told, the Twins are on pace to hit 188 home runs in 2016. Not bad for a team that has historically struggled to hit the long ball.

Stats courtesy mlb.com

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