Prime Chuck

Free to Go? Besides Chuck Knoblauch , here are 10 other quality players who will have general managers salivating if a new collective bargaining agreement sets them loose as free agents after this season.
MoiscsAlou, OF	Expos	Too costly for les Expos?
Mike Bordick , SS	Ks	A premier defensive player
Alex Fernandez , P	White Sox	Has 72 wins at age 26
Bernard Gilkey , OF	Mets	Already a career-high 76RBIs
Luis Gonzalez , OF	Cubs	Solidlefthandedhitter
Chris Hammond , P	Marlins	Soothpaws always desirable
Mickey Morandini , 2B	Phillies	Best-ever 20 steals already
Tim Naehring, 3B	Red Sox	Hitting.313 with power
MelRojas, P	Expos	Hot a top closer, but almost
Mike Timlin , P	Blue Jays	Would help many bullpens
Statistics through July 27

When the Twins played the Orioles on July 22, Minnesota second baseman Chuck Knoblauch avoided a hitless night by singling in the ninth inning. When he arrived at first, Orioles first baseman Rafael Palmeiro asked him, one top hitter to another, "Don't you ever take an 0-fer?" Knoblauch smiled and said, "No, I have a 100-game hitting streak going."

It only seems that way. At week's end Knoblauch was leading the major leagues with a .369 average, and recently he had been especially torrid. Through Sunday he had gone 45 for 106 (.425) in his last 28 games, including a streak of 10 consecutive multihit games that ended July 11—the longest such streak in the. major leagues since 1978.

"I told him before he went to Philadelphia for the All-Star Game that he had had one of the greatest half seasons I've ever seen," says Twins designated hitter Paul Molitor , a 19-year major leaguer. "He's so disciplined. I've never seen a hitter have so many 10-pitch at bats, then draw a walk. I've never seen a player who has been in the majors for only five years who could do what he can. It took me so long to learn to go to the plate with a plan, then carry it out. I still don't do it like him."

Knoblauch, 28, has always been a disciplined player. When Chuck was growing up in Houston , his father, Ray, a high school baseball coach, built a mound in the backyard so he could throw batting practice to Chuck. Ray also hit as many grounders a day as Chuck wanted, to sharpen his fielding. "I used to count them up to 200," says Chuck.

That discipline became even more rigid after the 1993 season, Knoblauch's third in the majors, when his batting average dropped to .277—a 20-point decrease from the year before—and the Twins lost 91 games. "That was the worst season for me and the team," he says. "We were down early so often, I gave away a lot of at bats. I learned that year never to give away at bats no matter what the score."

In 1994 Knoblauch bounced back to hit .312 with 53 extra-base hits, but he wasn't satisfied. The next spring he showed up at camp weighing 168 pounds, 12 fewer than the year before. The weight loss and a 6% reduction in body fat—he's at 6.8% now—came from working out with personal trainer Philip Green. "I learned how to eat," says Knoblauch. "The toughest thing I had to eat was yams, but now they're my favorite things. There are a lot of ballplayers who feel, Why mess with success? But I wanted to make myself better. I'm lighter and stronger."

Last year Knoblauch hit .333 with 53 extra-base hits, and this season he has been even better. At week's end he was on a pace for 73 extra-base hits, and he could cash in on that achievement if he becomes a free agent after this season. That hinges on one giant variable, however: the completion of a new labor agreement between the players and the owners.

Knoblauch may be the most desirable of a number of players (list, above) who fall just short of six full years of major league service but who could become free agents if the players are awarded service time for the days lost during the strike of 1994 and '95. That may happen because the players have been given service time after every previous work stoppage. If Knoblauch gets to test his value in the open market, he will probably be seeking between $5.5 million and $6 million a year for four or five seasons.

That puts the Twins in a difficult spot. They're trying to get the public to build them a new ballpark in the Twin Cities area, but the club is almost out of contention this year, they aren't drawing well, and they have lost the most popular player in club history, Kirby Puckett , who was forced to retire on July 12 because of glaucoma in his right eye. Minnesota can hardly afford to lose Knoblauch, now its best player, but it may not be able to match what bigger-market teams like the Yankees and the Dodgers might offer him. As a result the club may have dealt him by this Wednesday's trading deadline, after which any player traded must first clear waivers. A player of Knoblauch's stature would surely be claimed by one or more contending clubs.

Unlike Puckett and another Twin Cities hero, retired first baseman Kent Hrbek , Knoblauch isn't emotionally tied to the Twins and will not take less money to stay with them. "I enjoy playing in Minnesota ," he says, "but the lesson I've learned from Kirby's retirement is that you might wake up tomorrow and not be able to play anymore. You have to make the most of everything when you can."