The Minnesota Twins were terrible from 1994 to 2001. There’s no other way to say it. It was one of their worst stretch of seasons since moving to Minnesota from Washington. In a 1998 trade recently covered by William Malone here on Twins Daily, the Twins dealt Chuck Knoblauch to the Yankees for four prospects. Malone reviewed Cristian Guzmán in detail. I want to look at Eric Milton, who contributed to the Twins’ improvement from cellar dwellers to a division-winning playoff team. Milton’s contribution even went beyond his time with the team.
Eric Robert Milton was born August 4, 1975, in State College, Pennsylvania. He graduated from high school in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, and then attended the University of Maryland, where he played on the baseball team. The result of his strong collegiate career was being selected in the first round of the 1996 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft by the New York Yankees.
The six-foot-three, 200-pound lefthander pitched at two minor league levels in 1997. He threw 93 1/3 innings at Class-A Tampa and 77 2/3 innings at Double-A. He had a highly successful year, going a combined 14-6 with a 3.11 ERA. This success made him attractive to the Twins when they decided to move All-Star second baseman Chuck Knoblauch. Knoblauch had become frustrated with the Twins’ losing ways of the mid-90s and wanted out. On February 6, 1998, General Manager Terry Ryan traded Knoblauch to the Yankees for Milton, Cristian Guzmán, Brian Buchanan, and Danny Mota.
The Twins were desperate for quality starting pitchers. Despite Milton having pitched only that one single season of minor league ball, he made the Twins’ 1998 opening day roster as the fifth starter. His first start was a 10-1 mashing of the Kansas City Royals. Milton went six innings, allowing six hits (all singles) and two walks. He struck out only one batter but gave up zero runs. It was a fantastic initial appearance. Throughout the remainder of the 1998 season, he proved extremely dependable and durable, starting 32 games in his rookie season. It looked like Milton was a solid building block for the rebuilding Twins.
1999 and 2000 were similar for Milton and the Twins. He pitched a lot, starting 34 and 33 games. He did not win a lot of games, but neither did the Twins. But there was hope. The team and Milton appeared to be gathering experience, and at least there appeared to be some hope for the franchise’s future.
The Twins and Milton were excellent to start 2001. At the All-Star Break, the team’s record was 55-32, and they led the American League Central Division by five games. Milton was 8-3 and had an ERA of 3.73 at the break, good enough to be selected to the All-Star Game along with Cristian Guzmán and Joe Mays. 2001 was the first time the Twins had multiple All-Star Game representatives since 1994, when Kirby Puckett and Knoblauch were selected. The American League won a low-scoring 4-1 affair. Mays pitched a scoreless fifth inning. Guzmán stuck out in his lone plate appearance. Our subject, Milton, did not get into the game.
Unfortunately, the Twins faded in the second half of 2001. They finished in second place, six games behind the perennially strong Cleveland Indians, who won the division for the sixth time in seven years. Despite the finish, things were looking up in Twins Territory. Milton and other young potential stars had started changing the franchise’s outlook and expectations.
In 2002, the Twins were good all season long. They alternated between first and second place throughout April and May. By May 26, they were back in first place, a position they would not relinquish for the remainder of the season. They won their division for the first time since 1991 and by an impressive 13.5 games. Milton was 13-9 in 29 starts and 171 innings.
The Twins faced the powerful A’s in the American League Division Series. Oakland was a big favorite in the series after having won 103 games that season. Milton started Game Four with the Twins down two games to one. He allowed a two-run home run for Miguel Tejada in the top of the third inning, but the Twins batters immediately tied things up in the bottom of the inning before exploding for seven runs in the fourth inning. From there, the game was never in doubt. The Twins won 11-2. Milton pitched seven innings, allowing six hits and just those two runs. The Twins won the series the next day and faced the Angels in the American League Championship Series.
It seemed the Angels were just the better team in that series. The Twins won the first game, but the Angels swept the next four and advanced to the World Series. Milton started game three. He pitched well, allowing only one run in five innings before turning it over to the bullpen. The game was tied until the eighth inning when Troy Glaus hit a home run off J.C. Romero. The Twins lost the game 2-1. Despite losing the series, the charismatic young Twins reenergized the fan base with scrap, talent, and quality baseball. It looked like good things were on the horizon. Little did we know, we had seen nearly the last of Eric Milton in a Twins uniform.
Milton had injured his left knee in August of 2002. He missed a handful of starts after a quick surgery to address the problem. The injury lingered throughout the winter, and he had a second, more invasive surgery in March of 2003. This time, he was sidelined for the majority of the season. He had only three starts in September, but he pitched well in those starts. The Twins won their division again and were going to the playoffs again, where they would face the team that drafted Milton, the New York Yankees.
As we all know, the Twins never beat the Yankees. The first three games were all low-scoring affairs. The Twins won game one before the Yankees won the next two. Milton had not yet pitched as the Twins went with a three-man playoff rotation of Johan Santana, Brad Radke, and Kyle Lohse. The Bronx Bombers bombed Santana for six runs in the fourth inning of game four. Milton pitched 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, but the damage was done. The Yankees won the game 8-1 and the series 3-1.
To this point, Eric Milton had been an effective starting pitcher for the Twins, especially compared to what they had employed on the pitching mound during the late 1990s. In six seasons, he had a 57-51 record. Other than that last season, he had been remarkably durable, starting 29 or more games each season and throwing 171 or more innings in those seasons. His ERA in the heart of the steroid ERA was a respectable 4.76 (101 ERA+). However, as he gained experience and service time, he became more expensive, and we know the Twins were nearly allergic to paying exorbitant salaries. So, the Twins did with Milton what they did with Knoblauch six seasons prior: they traded an aging, expensive asset for several younger, cheaper assets.
And this is what I find interesting about Eric Milton and his time with the Twins. As I said above, he helped them improve from the despair of the late 1990s, even getting to the playoffs a couple of times. Eric Milton pitched well while in Minnesota and helped the franchise further on the way out by being the centerpiece in another astute Terry Ryan trade, just as he had been six years earlier. It had come full circle. Milton was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for Nick Punto, Carlos Silva, and Bobby Korecky. Punto and Silva had many good seasons for the Twins. Silva essentially replaced Milton in the 2004 pitching rotation. The trade helped the Twins continue their winning ways throughout the 2000s, winning four more division titles through 2010.
For his career, Eric Milton was a strong, dependable starter for most of his 11 seasons. He threw a total of 1,582 1/3 innings. His career ERA was 4.99 (94 ERA+). Again, remember the high-scoring nature of his time in MLB. He struck out 6.5 batters per nine innings. His career WHIP was 1.339. He achieved a WAR of 16.5. He had one All-Star appearance in 2001. After the trade, he had one good season in Philadelphia and became a free agent. He signed a three-year, $25.5 million contract with the Cincinnati Reds. He finished his career with a partial season with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2011. His seasons with the Twins were the best of his career. Since he retired from MLB, Milton has coached college and high school baseball. One of the players he coached in high school is Jackson Merrill, a young star centerfielder with the San Diego Padres, named to the All-Star Game and second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2024.
What are your memories of Eric Milton and this era of Twins Baseball?
If you like looking back at the Twins’ past, check out my previous articles at Twins Daily History.
Sources include Baseball Reference and Wikipedia.
