Twins’ Have a New Weapon in Outfielder Kirby Puckett

When Kirby Puckett stepped into Yankee Stadium for a recent series against the Yankees, Twins Manager Ray Miller told him the park was too big for him to hit any home runs.

Using those words as incentive, Puckett proceded to shake the House of Ruth in two consecutive games. Puckett, the Twins’ muscular 5-foot-8 center fielder and leadoff hitter, belted three shots into cavernous Death Valley in left center.

One of those balls traveled about 430 feet, into the monuments section and, on a fly, hit the base of the monument dedicated to Babe Ruth for his eighth homer of the year. His other two shots went for doubles, one to the left center field wall and the other to the warning track.

“I’ve always told people that I can hit home runs but they never believed me,” said Puckett, who had a major-league leading eight homers through April 30. “It’s another facet of my game. I’m letting the pitchers know now that if they hang a pitch to me, they’re going to have to deal with it.”

Puckett hit only four home runs last season, but has worked with Twins batting coach Tony Oliva on developing his power stroke.

“I used to just try to put the ball in play,” Puckett said. “I’d get a good pitch to hit and all I’d try to do was take it to right field and everyone would swing around and play me to hit there. Tony has been telling me to turn on the ball, that if the other team has to play me to hit straightaway, then I can go to right field without any problem. I’m a strong guy. If I take a good swing on the ball, the home runs are going to come.”

Oliva, who won batting titles in his first two major league seasons and batted over .300 seven times, said the reason for Puckett’s surprising power is self-confidence.

“The only thing that’s happening is that he’s starting to believe he can do it,” Oliva said. “He’s a small guy but he’s not that small. He weighs 200 pounds. He has a lot of power. He used to concentrate all the time on hitting the ball to the opposite field, especially on the ground. Now he’s swinging to hit the ball hard anywhere.”

Miller envisions Puckett, playing in his third season, as a legitimate power hitter later in his career, but for now he needs him at the top of the order.

“As Puckett grows older and a little bit slower, he’ll drop down and become a third, fourth or fifth hitter,” Miller said. “There’s no telling how many runs he could drive in batting down there if you had a couple guys who could handle the bat hitting in front of him.”

Puckett, 25, is realistic about his chances of overtaking Dale Murphy and Mike Schmidt as baseball’s home run kings, but is confident he can approach the plate with the idea he will sting the ball every time up.