September 19

Yank Robinson (1859)

Stuffy McInnis (1890)

Roger Angell (1920)

Epitacio Torres (1921)

Bob Murphy (1924)

Duke Snider (1926)

Bob Turley (1930)

Bill Williams (1930)

Chris Short (1937)

Joe Morgan (1943)

Joe Ferguson (1946)

Masaji Hiramatsu (1947)

Joe Maddon (1954)

Charlie Reliford (1955)

Randy Myers (1962)

Jim Abbott (1967)

Pedro Munoz (1968)

Javier Valentin (1975)

Mike Smith (1977)

Nick Johnson (1978)

Scott Baker (1981)

Danny Valencia (1984)

Outfielder Pedro Javier (Gonzalez) Munoz played for the Twins from 1990-1955. He was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico and was signed by the Blue Jays as a free agent in 1985. His first few years in the minors were not particularly distinguished, but he began to develop some power in 1989, hitting 19 homers for AA Knoxville. The next year, his average came around, as he hit .319 in AAA. That AAA year (1990) was split between Syracuse and Portland, as Munoz was traded to the Twins in July along with Nelson Liriano for John Candelaria. He got a September call-up that year and played quite a bit in September, batting .271 in 90 at-bats. Munoz was back in the minors at the start of 1991, but after batting .316 in Portland he came up to the Twins in early May and was in the majors to stay. By 1992, Munoz was a semi-regular in the corner outfield. He played there for the next four seasons, hitting well in every season except 1994, when he was bothered by injuries. Not a particularly good defensive outfielder, he was still occasionally used as a defensive replacement due to the fact that the other Twins corner outfielders included Randy Bush and Gene Larkin. Munoz was allowed to become a free agent after the 1995 season and signed with Oakland, but he was injured most of the season, and his career came to a close after the 1996 campaign. In just over six years for the Twins, Munoz batted .273/.315/.444 with 67 homers and 252 RBIs. No information about what Pedro Munoz has done since his playing career ended was readily available.

The brother of Jose Valentin, catcher Jose Javier (Rosario) Valentin played for the Twins from 1997-1999 and again in 2002. Born and raised in Manati, Puerto Rico, he was drafted in the third round of the 1993 draft by the Twins. He never hit all that much in the minors with the exception of 1995, when Valentin batted .321 with 19 homers for Class A Fort Wayne. Even so, he was given a brief call-up in 1997 and had two full seasons in the majors in 1998 and 1999 backing up Terry Steinbach. Valentin was injured for much of 2000, and when healthy played at AAA Salt Lake, where he hit .357 in 140 at-bats. He remained at AAA in 2001 and 2002, hitting a total of 38 home runs for Edmonton in those years. He got four more at-bats with the Twins in 2002, but was traded twice during the off-season. First, the Twins traded him to Milwaukee with Matt Kinney for Gerry Oakes and Matt Yeatman; then, before the season started, the Brewers sent him to Tampa Bay. Valentin was only in Tampa for the 2003 season, and then moved on to Cincinnati, where he spent five years as a part-time catcher. He became a free agent after that, and signed with Washington. Let go by the Nationals, he was picked up by the Mets and has played part of 2009 at AAA Buffalo, but was released on June 22, ending his playing career. Javier Valentin played in the big leagues for eight full years and parts of two others, and that's not too bad. As a Twin, Valentin hit .230/.288/.350 with 8 homers and 46 RBIs in 391 at-bats. No information about Javier Valentin since he was released was readily available.

Right-hander Michael Anthony Smith pitched three innings for the Twins in 2006. He was born in Norwood, Massachusetts, went to high school in Needham, Massachusetts, and was drafted by the Blue Jays in the fifth round of the 2000 draft out of the University of Richmond. He moved through the minors quickly, pitching well at every stop, and made his big-league debut with Toronto in April of 2002. Things did not go well, and after 14 games (6 starts) he was returned to AAA Syracuse. He had a good year there in 2002, but struggled for a couple of years after that. Released by the Blue Jays in spring training of 2005, he signed with the Phillies, but continued to struggle at AA Reading, and was released again after the season. He signed a minor-league contract with the Twins and pitched well enough in Rochester that he was asked to make one start with the big club. He lasted three innings, giving up four runs on five hits and three walks, and was back in Rochester again. The Twins released Smith after the season. He was in the Cardinals organization in 2007 and signed with the Cubs for 2008, but was released before the season started. Smith pitched in both independent leagues in 2008-2009, and also pitched in Taiwan in 2009. He pitched for the Broxton Rox of the Can-Am league in 2010, leading the league in wins and ERA and making the all-star team.  He had another fine season for the Rox in 2011 while also acting as the team’s pitching coach.  In 2012, he signed with Grosseto in the Italian Baseball League as a player/coach.

Right-hander Timothy Scott Baker has pitched for the Twins since 2005. Born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, he was drafted by the Twins out of Oklahoma State in the second round in 2003. He was promoted rapidly through the Twins organization, and pitched very well at every stop with the exception of a short stint at AAA Rochester in 2004. He redeemed himself there in 2005, however, and made his big-league debut with the Twins in May of 2005 after only about 250 minor-league innings. He did well in 53 major league innings that year, but went backward in 2006, with an ERA over 6 in 16 starts. He pitched very well again in Rochester, however, and after 6 more minor-league starts in 2007 he returned to the majors to stay. Baker was solid in 2007 and pitched fairly well since, despite a tendency to give up the long ball. His best season was 2008, when he went 11-4, 3.45 with a WHIP of 1.19. That season, Scott Baker became the first Twins' pitcher to strike out four batters in an inning. He has battled injuries in 2010 and 2011 and missed all of 2012 with an elbow injury.  He has been a very effective pitcher when healthy.  He turns thirty-one today, and it's anyone's guess how he'll do when he comes back.  On the other hand, he was a solid rotation starter for five years, and they don’t grow on trees.

Third baseman Daniel Paul Valencia came up to the Twins in early June of 2010. He was born in Miami and was drafted by Minnesota in the nineteenth round in 2006. He hit very well in the minors, averaging nearly .300 with double digit home runs. His best minor league season was 2008, when he hit .311 with 15 homers in a season split between Ft. Myers and New Britain. He struck out a lot early in his minor league career, but seems to have made progress in that area in recent years. He was hitting .292 in Rochester in 2010 when he was brought up due to injuries to infielders at the major league level. He became the regular third baseman in mid-July and held the job the rest of the season, hitting .311. No one expected him to do that his whole career, and he sure hasn't.  In 2011 he slumped to .246, and he was hitting .19o  in May when he was sent to the minors.  He came back up briefly at the end of July, but was traded in early August to Boston for Jeremias Pineda.  He played in a few games with the Red Sox, but has mostly been in the minors. He's 28 today, so he's not exactly a young player any more.  If he's going to have much more a major league career, he'd better get things turned around pretty soon.