Minnesota Twins: 5 best outfields in team history
By Nate Palmer
No. 2- 1992 Twins Outfield
Kirby Puckett, Shane Mack, and Pedro Munoz
It feels somewhat weird to place this outfield #2 on this list over the World Series winning outfield of 1991, but the 1992 outfield turned in a better season than the championship outfield of 1991. As a team, the 1992 team followed up the 1991 success by going 90-72 and finishing 2nd in the American League West.
Kirby Puckett continued to be the Twins best player as the team’s center field. Over the 1992 season, Puckett compiled a WAR of 7.1, the fourth-best WAR by a Twins outfielder in team history. That WAR was just a little shy of his career and franchise-best 7.7 WAR. Puckett also led the league in hits (for the fourth time in his career) with 210 while slashing .329/.374/.490 with 19 home runs. Puckett finished second in MVP voting (losing to Dennis Eckersley) while also making the All-Star game, winning a Gold Glove, and Silver Slugger award.
Left fielder Shane Mack found his stride when he arrived with the Twins and he continued to perform well during the 1992 season. Mack slashed .315/.394/.467 and hit 16 home runs and stole 26 bases. In the world of weird stats, Mack led the league in 1992 in the stat of HBP or being hit by the pitch. That season also proved to be the former Rule-5 draft picks’ best season according to his WAR of 6.5, the 9th best WAR in Twins history.
The third outfielder of this trio, Pedro Munoz, also turned in a career-best WAR of 1.4. It also happens to be the lowest WAR of any outfielder on this list, but with Puckett and Mack, it didn’t take much to bump this trio up the list. Munoz slashed .270/.298/.409 and hit 12 home runs.