Red Lucas (1902)
Charlie Metro (1918)
Tom Sturdivant (1930)
Jackie Brandt (1934)
Pedro Ramos (1935)
Tom Browning (1960)
John Cerutti (1960)
Russ Morman (1962)
Luis Quinones (1962)
Barry Larkin (1964)
Jim Poole (1966)
Jorge Sosa (1978)
Sean Douglass (1979)
Yoslan Herrera (1981)
David Freese (1983)
John Gaub (1985)
Charlie Metro (1918)
Tom Sturdivant (1930)
Jackie Brandt (1934)
Pedro Ramos (1935)
Tom Browning (1960)
John Cerutti (1960)
Russ Morman (1962)
Luis Quinones (1962)
Barry Larkin (1964)
Jim Poole (1966)
Jorge Sosa (1978)
Sean Douglass (1979)
Yoslan Herrera (1981)
David Freese (1983)
John Gaub (1985)
John Gaub was drafted by
Minnesota in the twenty-fifth round in 2003, but did not sign.
Right-hander
Pedro (Guerra) Ramos played for the Twins in 1961 and was the starting pitcher
in the first game the Minnesota Twins ever played. He was born in Pinar
del Rio, Cuba, and signed with Washington as a free agent in 1953. He had
a fine year in 1954, split between Class C and Class B ball, and started 1955
in the major leagues, pitching mostly out of the Washington bullpen. He
split 1956 between starting and relieving, and joined the starting rotation
permanently in 1957. He led the league in losses the last three years the
team was in Washington, but did not pitch that badly. His ERA for those
three years was 3.93 and his WHIP was around 1.30. In two of those years
he led the league in starts and batters faced, in one of them he led the league
in innings, and he made the all-star team in 1959. When he came
to Minnesota, he continued along that same path: Ramos was 11-20,
3.95 with a WHIP of 1.30. Just before the 1962 season, the Twins traded
him to Cleveland for Vic Power and Dick Stigman. He had another
sub-.500 year with a sub-four ERA, going 10-12, 3.71 in 201 innings, the sixth
consecutive season he had thrown more than 200 innings. A fast
runner, he was sometimes used to pinch-run on days he wasn’t pitching. He
pitched well for the Indians again in 1963 but had a bad year in 1964 and was
traded to the Yankees in September. The Yankees put him in the bullpen
and he took over as their closer, saving eight games in 13 appearances to help
the Yankees get to the World Series. He had two more
fine years in the Yankees bullpen as well. He was traded to Philadelphia
during Spring training of 1967, but after pitching eight poor
innings he was surprisingly released. The Phillies turned out to be
right, however. Ramos signed with Pittsburgh in 1968, but pitched
poorly in AAA. He pitched briefly with the Pirates in 1969, but was
released again in early June. Cincinnati picked him up and kept him in
their bullpen the rest of the season, but things did not go well there,
either. Ramos signed with Washington late in spring training of 1970, but
could do no better and was released at the end of April, ending his playing
career. He did a variety of things after that. He scouted in Latin
America, opened a cigar business in Miami, and spent some time in prison on
drug and weapons charges. He was a part-time pitching coach for Miami Dade
Community College in the 1990s. At last report, Pedro Ramos was the owner
of a cigar manufacturing business in Nicaragua.
Infielder
Luis Raul (Torruellas) Quinones played in three games for the Twins in
1992. Born and raised in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Quinones was signed by San
Diego as a free agent in 1980. He was somewhat up and down in his minor
league career, but was mostly pretty average at bat; his best year prior to
making the majors was 1982, when he hit .288 with 16 homers in a season spent
mostly at AA Amarillo. Oakland took him in the Rule 5 draft after that
season and obviously worked something out to keep him, because he spent most of
the season in the minors before getting his first taste of big league life with
45 plate appearances. Oakland moved him on to Cleveland after the 1983
campaign. He was in the minors for the Indians for a little over a year,
getting traded to San Francisco in May of 1985. He was in the big leagues
with the Giants for most of 1986, getting called up in early May. He was
used almost exclusively as a reserve, playing in 71 games but making only 22
starts. The Giants released him after the season. He signed with
Oakland, but eight days later was traded to the Cubs for Ron Cey. He was
with the Cubs the second half of 1987, but was on the move again before the
next season, traded to Cincinnati. He was in AAA most of 1988 but came up
to the Reds in May of 1989 and stayed there through 1991. He never hit;
his best year was 1989, when he hit .244 with 12 home runs. The Reds
released him after 1991 and he signed with Minnesota. Quinones started
the 1992 campaign with the Twins but played in only three games, going 1-for-4
with an RBI, before being sent to AAA. He did not have a particularly
good year at AAA Portland, and was allowed to become a free agent after the
season. He signed with Houston and started the 1993 season in AAA with
the Astros, was released, signed with the Mariners, and stayed in AAA with the
through the 1994 campaign. He was apparently out of baseball for a few
years, although he may have been playing in Mexico or something, and then
played for independent Atlantic City in 1998-1999 before ending his playing
career. Luis Quinones has been a manager and coach in the low minors for
a while now, and is currently the batting coach of the Batavia Muckdogs in the
Marlins organization.
Right-hander
Sean Reed Douglass did not play for the Twins, but was in spring training with
them in 2004. Born and raised in Lancaster, California, he was drafted by
Baltimore in the second round in 1997. His minor league record is not
particularly exceptional but is fairly solid; he would generally post an ERA in
the low-to-mid-threes and a WHIP in the 1.30-1.40 range. He was up with
the Orioles for parts of three seasons, bouncing back and forth between
Baltimore and AAA from 2001-2003. His time in the majors was not
successful, and the Orioles put him on waivers after the 2003 season.
Minnesota signed him and took him to spring training in 2004, but they placed
him on waivers near the end of the exhibition season. Toronto signed him
and he started the season in the majors, but after three scoreless innings he
was sent back to AAA. He came back to the Blue Jays in late July, but was
not particularly successful. A free agent after the season, he moved on
to Detroit and got the most playing time of his career, making sixteen starts
for the Tigers. He did not do much with them, though, and was waived
after the season. Cleveland selected him, but apparently thought better
of it and released him less than two months later. He played for a few
years in Japan, but then his playing career came to an end. For his major
league career, Sean Douglass was 7-13, 6.11, 1.61 WHIP in 207.2 innings.
He appeared in 54 games, 31 of them starts. His last season in Japan
appears to have been 2008. He appears to have returned to his home town
of Lancaster; at any rate, there's a Sean Douglass who's playing in an amateur
baseball league there, so it seems reasonable to think that it's the same one.
Right-hander
Yoslan (Betancourt) Herrera did not pitch for the Twins, but he made six starts
for AAA Rochester in 2010. He was born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba. He
was a member of the Cuban National Youth team from 1999-2000 and pitched for
Pinar del Rio in the Cuban National League. He was left off the Cuban
Olympic team in 2004 due to injury. In 2005, he defected and settled in
the Dominican Republic. Herrera signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent in
2007. He was in the Pirates’ system for three seasons, spent mostly in
AA. He struggled in his first year but pitched pretty well there in
2008-2009. The Pirates seemed reluctant to give him a chance at a higher
level, however; despite going 17-10, 3.35 in his last 212 innings of AA, he got
only five appearances at AAA. He did make five major league starts in
2008, going 1-1, 9.82 in 18.1 innings. The Pirates let him go after the
2009 season and he signed with Minnesota for 2010. His first three starts
there were pretty good, but his last three were awful and he was released with
a record of 0-3, 6.08 in 26.2 innings. What he did for the next couple of
years is unclear, but he spent 2013 playing for Lancaster in the Atlantic
League. He did well enough in Lancaster to catch
the attention of the Angels, who signed him for 2014. He began in AAA,
but after four solid relief appearances there he came back to the major leagues
after a six-year absence, appearing in twenty games and posting an ERA of 2.70.
He signed with the Angels again for 2015 but was released before spring
training and went to Japan, where he had a strong season for Yokohama. It
appears that he will again pitch for Yokohama in 2016.
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