Irrational numbers: The Twins' newest (and least-worn) jersey digits

10/16/2024 04:55 PM

In team history, which numbers are Twins wearing for the first time... and which are still to come?

On social media, the account NumbersMLB has been tracking the jersey numbers worn by every active MLB player for seasons. At the end of the year, they provide several recapping updates, including numbers worn for the first time in a franchise.

The Twins had three new ones in 2024:

In recent seasons, more and more players have been wearing numbers in the upper range of what's allowable under MLB rules. Whereas it was rare to see a player wearing a number from the 60s on up through the early 2000s, nowadays every roster seems to have a player or two with a number in the 70s, 80s, or 90s on their back. I suspect the cause is a mix of teams retiring more numbers, leaving a smaller pool for new players to choose from (looking at you, Yankees), and star players wearing higher numbers (e.g. Aaron Judge's 99 and the White Sox trio of José Abreu in 79, Eloy Jiménez in 74, and Luis Robert Jr. in 88), removing any stigma from and adding prestige to higher numbers.

Thanks to Baseball Reference's Uniform Number Tracker, we can easily see which numbers have been worn how many times in team history and which were never worn until lately. Taking everything 60 and above, plus the two zero options, let's take a look. (Note that all WAR below refers to Baseball Reference's measurement.)

In chronological order:

66 (worn 5x)
first: Ray Scarborough (1942)
most recent: Jorge Alcala (2019-present)
highest WAR: Alcala (2.0 WAR)

It's always fascinating to see players wearing extremely high numbers in the pre-expansion days. I don't know how long Scarborough wore #66 because BBRef lists him as having worn both it and #10 during the 1942 season, suggesting he switched at some point during the season, but I can't pinpoint exactly when.

00 (worn 1x)
only wearer: Bobo Newsom (1943, '46-7; 3.6 WAR)

The only non-future Hall of Famer named in Ogden Nash's "Line-Up For Yesterday," Newsom played five separate stints for the Senators, wearing double aughts during his third and fourth tenures in D.C.

0 (worn 2x)
first: Junior Ortiz (1990-91)
most recent: Billy Hamilton (2022)
highest WAR: Ortiz (1.7)

After Ortiz won a ring as the backup catcher (and Scott Erickson's preferred backstop) for the 1991 Twins, the single 0 stayed unworn in the regular season until Hamilton donned it as a September addition to the '22 squad.

60 (worn 12x)
first: Willie Banks (1991)
most recent: Scott Blewett (2024-present)
highest WAR: Jake Cave (2018-21; 2.2 WAR)

Also the Twin who has worn 60 the longest, Cave has been brought to the forefront of Twins fans' memories recently as the team traded away Luis Gil, now a star starter for the Yankees, to acquire him.

71 (worn 3x)
first: Joe Roa (2004)
most recent: Jovani Moran (2021-23)
highest WAR: Roa (0.5 WAR)

Moran had the best single season by WAR for a Twin wearing #71 (0.9 WAR in 2022), but weaker '21 and '23 seasons dropped his total.

77 (worn 4x)
first: Tony Batista (2006)
most recent: Cole Sands (2022-23)
highest WAR: Fernando Romero (2018-19; 0.1 WAR)

Sands would've taken Romero's spot for highest WAR had he not switched to #44 for the '24 season; his 1.2 WAR this year tops any individual season for a Twin wearing #77.

72 (worn 3x)
first: Pat Neshek (2016)
most recent: Brooks Lee (2024-present)
highest WAR: Caleb Thielbar (2020; 0.5 WAR)

My current observations of Twins wearing #72 is that none of them wanted the number. As best as I can tell, Neshek wore #72 for one game before switching to his familiar #17; twelve years later, in his second tenure with the Phillies, he became the first major leaguer in history to wear #93. Thielbar wore #56 with the Twins from 2013-15; when returning during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he took #72 (I can't remember if another 40-man roster player or coach had #56 at the time), then switched back to #56 starting the following season. Now Lee has the number, and it's known that his preferred number is 22, currently worn by Jax.

61 (worn 11x)
first: Tommy Watkins (2007)
most recent: Brock Stewart (2023-present)
highest WAR: Jared Burton (2012-14; 2.3 WAR)

Watkins, the first Twin to wear the number, is the only position player in franchise history to wear it. And if Stewart can continue to pitch well, he (1.5 WAR) can easily pass Burton's WAR next year.

63 (worn 5x)
first: Armando Gabino (2009)
most recent: Josh Staumont (2024)
highest WAR: Andrew Albers (2013; 0.4 WAR)

Albers spent parts of three separate seasons with the Twins, wearing a different number every time. Unfortunately, neither his 2016 stint in #58 nor 2021 cameo in #77 was as good as his MLB debut in 2013.

62 (worn 6x)
first: Liam Hendriks (2011-13)
most recent: Diego Castillo (2024)
highest WAR: Castillo (0.2 WAR)

Yeah, not much to pick from here save the Twins trying to make Hendriks a starter for three seasons before he became a star reliever elsewhere. My strongest memory of a Twin in 62 is Andrew Vazquez appearing in one game for the 2019 Twins, facing three batters (hitting one and walking two), watching all those runners cross the plate, and being released — thus ending his 2019 season with an infinite ERA.

64 (worn 8x)
first: Chris Parmelee (2011)
most recent: Jose Miranda (2022-present)
highest WAR: Miranda (2.2 WAR)

Interestingly, Parmelee and Hendriks both debuted in the same game alongside the second Twin to wear #63, Joe Benson. And while only eight players have worn 64 for the Twins, that list of eight includes all-Spoonerism Team starter Pat Dean and everyone's favorite chubby catcher who can run, Willians Astudillo.

67 (worn 4x)
first: Luis Perdomo (2012)
most recent: Gilberto Celestino (2022)
highest WAR: Celestino (0.3 WAR)

Like Jax, Celestino switched from a higher uniform number to one in the 60s for the 2022 season, going from #79 in his debut 2021 to #67, which he wore for the entire season. And like Jax, Celestino switched to a number in the 20s (#21) for 2023; unfortunately, Celestino never cracked the big league roster that year before being granted free agency.

65 (worn 3x)
first: Trevor May (2014-20)
most recent: Griffin Jax (2022)
highest WAR: May (2.3 WAR)

After his 10-year, 9-season career, May is becoming more prominent among baseball social media as a podcaster, Twitch streamer, and YouTube host. Jax has an interesting number journey, wearing #83 when first called up in 2021, switching to #65 the following year, then settling into his current #22 in '23.

76 (worn 2x)
first: Félix Jorge (2017)
more recent: Alex Kirilloff (2020)
higher WAR: ???

Why the question marks? Because Kirilloff's 2020 debut came in the postseason, in the Wild Card Round against Houston. In his sole playoff game that year, he went 1-4, but I could not find player value charts for the postseason; by the time 2021 came around, he'd switched to #19. As such, while it's likely that his WAR for that game is higher than Jorge's minus-0.3, I can't confirm it.

99 (worn 2x)
first: Logan Morrison (2018)
more recent: Yennier Cano (2022)
higher WAR: Morrison (minus-0.2 WAR)

I remember a lot of fuss when Morrison claimed #99, mostly among Yankee fans who apparently think the number should be exclusive to Aaron Judge. Unfortunately, Morrison followed up a 3.0-WAR 2017 season in Tampa with a stinker of a year in Minnesota. Continuing the bad fortunes with #99, the Twins traded Cano to Baltimore in the Jorge López deal, only for Cano to break out as a reliever as an Oriole while López fizzled in the Twin Cities.

68 (worn 2x)
first: Matt Magill (2018-9)
more recent: Randy Dobnak (2019-21, '24)
higher WAR: Magill (0.4 WAR)

I think that despite a poorer performance in the number, Dobnak falls into the category of players who may not be very good but fans love wholeheartedly.

80 (worn 1x)
only wearer: Ryan Eades (2019; 0.1 WAR)

Eades was the first player in MLB history to wear #80; unfortunately, that did not translate to a remarkable career, as Eades pitched just two games for Minnesota and six more with Baltimore as a major leaguer.

74 (worn 4x)
first: Ronald Torreyes (2019)
most recent: Josh Winder (2022-24)
highest WAR: Joe Ryan (2021) & Winder (0.4 WAR)

While Winder and Torreyes kept wearing #74 in their careers, Ryan switched down to first #40, then #41, to continue wearing on the mound. The fourth player to wear #74 was Travis Blankenhorn, who wore the number for one game in 2020 before switching to #13 in 2021... where he played just one game, committing an error that led to a tenth-inning collapse, before being released.

86 (worn 1x)
only wearer: Edwar Colina (2020; minus-0.2 WAR)

Colina pitched in only one game in 2020, allowing 4 hits and 3 runs (including a Mike Moustakas solo shot) while recording just one out. He switched to #52 for the 2021 spring but did not make the roster and has not pitched in the majors since.

70 (worn 2x)
first: Ben Rortvedt (2021)
more recent: Ronny Henriquez (2022)
higher WAR: Henriquez (0.2 WAR)

Henriquez switched to #31 upon his return to the active roster this past season.

82 (worn 2x)
first: Bailey Ober (2021)
more recent: Austin Martin (2024)
higher WAR: Ober (1.2 WAR)

Since bouncing around numbers from #82 to #16 and finally settling in at #17, Ober has become a solid starter for Minnesota. We'll see if Martin can develop similarly after an up-and-down 2024.

79 (worn 1x)
only wearer: Gilberto Celestino (2021; minus-0.3 WAR)

I already went through Celestino's numerical journey in the #67 section.

83 (worn 1x)
only wearer: Griffin Jax (2021; minus-1.1 WAR)

The switch to the bullpen clearly did Jax a lot of good.

85 (worn 2x)
first: Charlie Barnes (2021)
more recent: Jair Camargo (2024)
higher WAR: Camargo (minus-0.1 WAR)

LET CAMARGO CATCH.

87 (worn 2x)
first: Jermaine Palacios (2022)
more recent: José De León (2023)
higher WAR: De León (0.0 WAR)

Incredibly, Palacios has a lower ERA with the Twins (0.00 across 2 games) than De León (4.67, 12 games). It generally helps when you only have to get one out in each appearance, but let's enjoy the stat regardless.

90 (worn 1x)
only wearer: Caleb Hamilton (2022; minus-0.3 WAR)

Hamilton served as a backup catcher during the latter half of the 2022 season, only recording one hit in 23 plate appearances (18 at-bats); however, that hit was a solo home run. Still better than Manny Margot as a pinch hitter.

78 (worn 1x)
only wearer: Simeon Woods Richardson (2022-present; 1.8 WAR)

Although he struggled later in the season, I think it's safe to say Woods Richardson broke out as an MLB starter in 2024. And not only is Woods Richardson the only Twin to wear #78, he briefly set the MLB record for longest last name before being topped by ex-Minnesota prospect Christian Encarnacion-Strand.

81 (worn 1x)
only wearer: Jordan Balazovic (2023, 0.0 WAR)

Balazovic came with a ton of hype, but that didn't translate to long-term success in the majors. In 2024, he pitched in Korea.

73 (worn 1x)
only wearer: Caleb Boushley (2024; 0.0 WAR)

Boushley only had two single-game cameos for the Twins this season, but in doing so he became the first Twin to wear #73. As he has elected free agency following the season, the number is now open again.

92 (worn 1x)
only wearer: Michael Helman (2024-present; 0.1 WAR)

It feels strange that Helman is the only Twin to wear a number falling between 90 and 99. Given the increase in guys wearing high numbers, I wouldn't be surprised if that changes quickly.

89 (worn 1x)
only wearer: DaShawn Keirsey Jr. (2024-present; 0.0 WAR)

The most recent Twin to debut a number, Keirsey played in just seven games in 2024 but capped off his season with his first career home run in the finale.

So that's where things stand after 2024. The Twins still have a handful of numbers unworn, and they are:

6975848891939495969798

Eleven more opportunities for a player to do a franchise first. I can't wait to see them.