# 1983 Minnesota Twins season

The 1983 Minnesota Twins season was the 23rd season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 2nd season at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and the 83rd overall in the American League.
The Twins finished 70–92, tied for fifth in the American League West, and improved upon their dismal 60-102 record from 1982 by ten games. 858,939 fans attended Twins games, the third-lowest total in the American League.

## Offseason

* January 12, 1983: Bob Veselic was traded by the Twins to the Houston Astros for Rick Lysander.
* January 31, 1983: Mike Hart was signed as a free agent by the Twins.
* March 25, 1983: Sal Butera was traded by the Twins to the Detroit Tigers for Stine Poole (minors) and cash.
* March 25, 1983: Pete Redfern was released by the Twins.

## Regular season

Only one Twins player made the All-Star Game, outfielder Gary Ward.

### Offense

* Kent Hrbek hit .297 with 16 HR and 84 RBI.
* Gary Ward hit .278 with 19 HR and 88 RBI.
* Gary Gaetti hit 21 HR and 78 RBI.
* Tom Brunansky hit 28 HR and 82 RBI.
Team Leaders :
| Statistic | Player | Quantity |
| HR | Tom Brunansky | 28 |
| RBI | Gary Ward | 92 |
| BA | Kent Hrbek | .297 |
| Runs | John Castino | 83 |

### Pitching

Starter Ken Schrom was 15-8. Reliever Ron Davis had 30 saves.
Team Leaders :
| Statistic | Player | Quantity |
| ERA | Ken Schrom | 3.71 |
| Wins | Ken Schrom | 15 |
| Saves | Ron Davis | 30 |
| Strikeouts | Frank Viola | 127 |

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Chicago White Sox | 99 | 63 | .611 | — | 55‍–‍26 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Kansas City Royals | 79 | 83 | .488 | 20 | 45‍–‍36 | 34‍–‍47 |
| Texas Rangers | 77 | 85 | .475 | 22 | 44‍–‍37 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Oakland Athletics | 74 | 88 | .457 | 25 | 42‍–‍39 | 32‍–‍49 |
| California Angels | 70 | 92 | .432 | 29 | 35‍–‍46 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Minnesota Twins | 70 | 92 | .432 | 29 | 37‍–‍44 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Seattle Mariners | 60 | 102 | .370 | 39 | 30‍–‍51 | 30‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1983 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 8–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 5–8 | 8–4 | 11–2 | 8–4 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 9–3 | 7–6 |
| Boston | 5–8 | — | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 4–9 | 5–7 | 4–9 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 7–6 |
| California | 5–7 | 6–6 | — | 3–10 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 5–8 | 6–7 | 6–7 | 4–8 |
| Chicago | 5–7 | 6–6 | 10–3 | — | 8–4 | 8–4 | 9–4 | 4–8 | 8–5 | 8–4 | 8–5 | 12–1 | 8–5 | 5–7 |
| Cleveland | 7–6 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 4–8 | — | 5–8 | 7–5 | 3–10 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 3–9 | 4–9 |
| Detroit | 8–5 | 9–4 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 8–5 | — | 7–5 | 6–7 | 9–3 | 5–8 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 6–7 |
| Kansas City | 4–8 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 4–9 | 5–7 | 5–7 | — | 6–6 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 8–5–1 | 6–6 |
| Milwaukee | 2–11 | 9–4 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 10–3 | 7–6 | 6–6 | — | 8–4 | 4–9 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 8–5 |
| Minnesota | 4–8 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 5–8 | 6–6 | 3–9 | 7–6 | 4–8 | — | 4–8 | 4–9 | 9–4 | 5–8 | 5–7 |
| New York | 7–6 | 6–7 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 9–4 | 8–4 | — | 8–4 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 7–6 |
| Oakland | 4–8 | 4–8 | 8–5 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 9–4 | 4–8 | — | 9–4 | 2–11 | 6–6 |
| Seattle | 4–8 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 1–12 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 4–9 | 5–7 | 4–9 | — | 6–7 | 4–8 |
| Texas | 3–9 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 5–8 | 9–3 | 4–8 | 5–8–1 | 4–8 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 11–2 | 7–6 | — | 4–8 |
| Toronto | 6–7 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 9–4 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 8–4 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 12, 1983: Tom Klawitter was signed as a free agent by the Twins.
* June 6, 1983: Tim Belcher was drafted by the Twins in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1983 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Dave Engle | 120 | 374 | 114 | .305 | 8 | 43 |
| 1B | Kent Hrbek | 141 | 515 | 153 | .297 | 16 | 84 |
| 2B | John Castino | 142 | 563 | 156 | .277 | 11 | 57 |
| SS | Ron Washington | 99 | 317 | 78 | .246 | 4 | 26 |
| 3B | Gary Gaetti | 157 | 584 | 143 | .245 | 21 | 78 |
| LF | Gary Ward | 157 | 623 | 173 | .278 | 19 | 88 |
| CF | Darrell Brown | 91 | 309 | 84 | .272 | 0 | 22 |
| RF | Tom Brunansky | 151 | 542 | 123 | .227 | 28 | 82 |
| DH | Randy Bush | 124 | 373 | 93 | .249 | 11 | 56 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Mickey Hatcher | 106 | 375 | 119 | .317 | 9 | 47 |
| Lenny Faedo | 51 | 173 | 48 | .277 | 1 | 18 |
| Tim Laudner | 62 | 168 | 31 | .185 | 6 | 18 |
| Bobby Mitchell | 59 | 152 | 35 | .230 | 1 | 15 |
| Ray Smith | 59 | 152 | 34 | .224 | 0 | 8 |
| Rusty Kuntz | 31 | 100 | 19 | .190 | 3 | 5 |
| Houston Jiménez | 36 | 86 | 15 | .174 | 0 | 9 |
| Scott Ullger | 35 | 79 | 15 | .190 | 0 | 5 |
| Tim Teufel | 21 | 78 | 24 | .308 | 3 | 6 |
| Greg Gagne | 10 | 27 | 3 | .111 | 0 | 3 |
| Jim Eisenreich | 2 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 0 | 0 |
| Tack Wilson | 5 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 1 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Frank Viola | 35 | 210.0 | 7 | 15 | 5.49 | 127 |
| Ken Schrom | 33 | 196.1 | 15 | 8 | 3.71 | 80 |
| Albert Williams | 36 | 193.1 | 11 | 14 | 4.14 | 68 |
| Bobby Castillo | 27 | 158.1 | 8 | 12 | 4.77 | 90 |
| Brad Havens | 16 | 80.1 | 5 | 8 | 8.18 | 40 |
| Jay Pettibone | 4 | 27.0 | 0 | 4 | 5.33 | 10 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Pete Filson | 26 | 90.0 | 4 | 1 | 3.40 | 49 |
| Jack O'Connor | 27 | 83.0 | 2 | 3 | 5.86 | 56 |
| Bryan Oelkers | 10 | 34.1 | 0 | 5 | 8.65 | 13 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Ron Davis | 66 | 5 | 8 | 30 | 3.34 | 84 |
| Rick Lysander | 61 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 3.38 | 58 |
| Len Whitehouse | 60 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4.15 | 44 |
| Mike Walters | 23 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4.12 | 21 |
| Jim Lewis | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.50 | 8 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Toledo Mud Hens | International League | Cal Ermer |
| AA | Orlando Twins | Southern League | Phil Roof |
| A | Visalia Oaks | California League | Harry Warner |
| A | Wisconsin Rapids Twins | Midwest League | Charlie Manuel |
| Rookie | Elizabethton Twins | Appalachian League | Fred Waters |