They did it. The Twins, long known as a ballclub with a power shortage, set Major League Baseball’s single-season home run record this summer with 307 home runs.
It took them just 135 games to hit 268 home runs, breaking the previous record of 267, set just last summer by the New York Yankees. They hit three home runs in the final game of the season to secure the record over this year's Yankees.
In the charts below, see how many “bombas” they have hit, where those home runs have gone and which players have hit the most. Charts and home run totals will be updated after each series.
Spray charts and statistics current as of Sept. 30, 2019.
Nelson Cruz
Longest home run: 473 feet
Cruz is the first Twins player to have two three-homer games in a season and the first player 39 or older in major league history to accomplish the feat.
Max Kepler
Longest home run: 438 feet
He has hit 29 of his home runs while batting in the leadoff spot, which leads the major leagues. Harmon Killebrew is only Twin to reach 30 HRs in a season more quickly.
Eddie Rosario
Longest home run: 421 feet
Rosario led the Twins last season with 24 home runs (they hit 166 as a team). A notorious bad-ball hitter, he swings at 45% of pitches outside the strike zone.
Mitch Garver
Longest home run: 426 feet
Garver has the second-most home runs among big-league catchers and is the third Twins catcher, after Earl Battey and Joe Mauer, with 20 or more in a season.
Miguel Sano
Longest home run: 482 feet
Sano is the fastest player in Twins history to reach 100 homers (432 games). He missed the first month of the season (foot laceration), but came back strong.
C.J. Cron
Longest home run: 453 feet
Two stints on the injured list (sore thumb) might keep Cron, in his first season with the Twins, from breaking his career high of 30, set last season with Tampa Bay.
Jorge Polanco
Longest home run: 425 feet
The All-Star starter is in the top 10 in the AL in hits, doubles, triples and total bases. He already has the fourth-highest WAR in a season for a Twins shortstop.
Jonathan Schoop
Longest home run: 467 feet
Schoop, who hit 32 home runs in 2017 with Baltimore, has the third-most home runs in the AL among second basemen. He’s cooled off since the All-Star break but remains a key bat.
Marwin Gonzalez
Longest home run: 437 feet
Another free-agent signee, Gonzalez is baseball’s most versatile player, with 48 games in the outfield, 39 at third, 15 at first, two at second and one at shortstop.
Jason Castro
Longest home run: 443 feet
Castro missed most of 2018 because of knee surgery, allowing Garver to receive more playing time. Castro has hit double-digit homers six of the past seven seasons.
Byron Buxton
Longest home run: 454 feet
An oddity: Buxton, currently on the injured list, has the Twins’ only grand slam this season, coming May 18 at Seattle. Might be baseball’s best defensive outfielder.
Ehire Adrianza
Longest home run: 414 feet
A switch hitter like Gonzalez and Polanco, Adrianza hasn’t homered since May 25. Had a memorable shot off Houston’s Justin Verlander in a 1-0 victory on April 29.
Willians Astudillo
Longest home run: 420 feet
He’s back from an injury. Astudillo loves to put the ball in play. His number of walks and strikeouts likely will remain low all season.
Luis Arraez
Longest home run: 392 feet
Called up in the middle of May, he’s leading the team in hitting (.348) and reached 50 hits in 42 games, second fastest in Twins history (Kirby Puckett did it in 36).
Jake Cave
Longest home run: 437 feet
Cave has played all three outfield positions and has put together a nice second half of the season.
Note: Spray charts and statistics obtained from baseballsavant.mlb.com. The field shown in the spray charts is modeled after Kauffman Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Royals. Due to the variation in fence distances at each ballpark, some dots may render inside the field of play.
MLB Statcast collects spray chart data by hand, and occasionally a home run goes uncharted. Seven of the Twins home runs are unaccounted for, according to Statcast data. The Star Tribune used videos of these home runs as well as Statcast data to estimate landing points for the unplotted home runs.
Josh Penrod is the Head of Design for the Minnesota Star Tribune. Josh works across the Strib to establish and maintain a consistent design vision, and to ensure that consumer-facing products can leverage the brand’s visual standards for reader engagement and user experience.
Chris Miller supervises coverage of professional sports teams. He has been at the Minnesota Star Tribune since 1999 and is a former sports editor of the Duluth News-Tribune and the Mesabi Daily News.