Puckett’s Pond faces off two notable Minnesota Twins players and you decide which one was greater
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Puckett’s Pond is enlisting your help in deciding who the greatest Minnesota Twins in history are at each position. Eventually we’ll square off each position against the others and wind up with the greatest Minnesota Twin, as selected by you. The first position we’ll be selecting is catcher. We’ll only be counting literal Minnesota Twins and not the pre-1961 Washington franchises. Players also will need 700 PAs as a Twin to qualify. We ask you to consider the player based solely on his time as a Twin and at the position specified. We’ve faced off George Mitterwald vs A.J Pierzynski and Brian Harper vs Earl Battey. Our third catching match up is between Glenn Borgmann and Tim Laudner.
Laudner was drafted by the Twins in 1979. He spent two seasons in the minors before getting his first taste with the Twins in 1981. Tim spent his entire 9 year major league career with the Twins. He was the club primary catcher off and on over that time. He was an all star in 1988 and won the World Series in 1987. He played his last game in 1989.
His best season came in 1988 when he slashed .251/.316/.408, hit 13 home runs and posted a 1.5 fWAR. For his career with the Twins he had a .682 OPS, 9.3 defensive runs above average and a 3.2 bWAR/4 fWAR.
Borgmann was another home-grown Twins prospect drafted in 1971. The next year he debuted in the majors and had 203 PAs. He played for Minnesota through the 1979 season. After which he signed with the White Sox and retired after the 1980 season. He spent two years as the Twins’ primary catcher from 1974-1975. Butch Wynegar took over the starting job in 1976 and Borgmann was relegated to backing up for the remainder of his time with the Twins.
His best season came in 1974 when he slashed .252/.323/.307, had 396 PAs and had a 1.4 dWAR. Borgmann was a light hitter but an excellent defender. He posted a .630 OPS, 34.1 defensive runs above average and a 5 bWAR/ 5.3 fWAR in his Twins career.
Who was the greater Twins catcher? Have your say:
Feel free to leave your reasoning in the comments. Check back here for the rest of the match ups in round one and to see who moves on.