Fred Jacklitsch (1876)
Jack Pfiester (1878)
Joe Oeschger (1892)
Willy Miranda (1926)
Ellie Rodriguez (1946)
Rob Ducey (1965)
Carlos Hernandez (1967)
Todd Rizzo (1971)
Danny Bautista (1972)
Bartolo Colon (1973)
Brad Penny (1978)
Adam Conley (1990)
Jack Pfiester (1878)
Joe Oeschger (1892)
Willy Miranda (1926)
Ellie Rodriguez (1946)
Rob Ducey (1965)
Carlos Hernandez (1967)
Todd Rizzo (1971)
Danny Bautista (1972)
Bartolo Colon (1973)
Brad Penny (1978)
Adam Conley (1990)
Adam
Conley was drafted by Minnesota in the thirty-second round in 2008 but did not
sign.
Infielder Guillermo (Perez) “Willy”
Miranda did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system in
1961 at the end of his career. He was born in Velasco, Cuba and signed
with Washington as a free agent in 1948. He was in the Washington farm
system through 1951, spending three of those four seasons at AA
Chattanooga. He did not hit much, averaging around .240, but got about
six weeks in the majors as a reserve in 1951, going 4-for-9 in sparing
use. He made the big leagues for good in 1952, although he moved around
for a while. Washington traded him to the White Sox after the 1951
season, the White Sox traded him to the Browns in mid-June, the Browns put him
on waivers two weeks later and he was selected by the White Sox again, he was
traded back to the Browns after the 1952 season, he was sold to the Yankees in
mid-June of 1953, and he was traded to the former Browns, now the Baltimore
Orioles, after the 1954 season (the latter trade involved seventeen players,
the largest swap between two teams in baseball history). He was a reserve
in those years, known as a slick fielder, as tremendous with the glove as he
was awful with the bat (many contemporaries proclaimed him the best-fielding
shortstop they’d ever seen, while at the plate one manager said that “his
weakness is pitched balls.”) The Orioles made him their regular shortstop
in 1955, and he responded with his best offensive season. He still only
hit .255 with no power, but it was enough for him to retain the shortstop job
in 1956. He dropped to .217 that year, however, and his days as a regular
were over. He stayed with the Orioles as a reserve through the 1959
season, but was traded to the Dodgers in mid-March of 1960. He spent the
season in AAA and then found his way to the Minnesota system, playing at AAA
Syracuse in 1961. He hit pretty much as he always had, majors or
minors: .230/.307/.295 in 278 at-bats. That brought his playing
career to an end. For his major league career, Willy Miranda hit
.221/.282/.271 in 1,914 at-bats over nine seasons. After his career
ended, Miranda moved back to Baltimore. Willy Miranda passed away from
lung cancer on September 7, 1966.
Left-hander
Todd Michael Rizzo did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system in
2000. He was born in Media, Pennsylvania, went to high school in
Concordville, Pennsylvania, and signed with the Dodgers as a free agent in
1992. He pitched in A ball for them that season, but did not do much and
was released in June of 1993. He pitched in the Texas-Louisiana League in
1994 and caught the attention of the White Sox, who signed him for the 1995
season. Used exclusively in relief, he climbed the ladder at a pace of a
level a season, posting good ERAs with high WHIPs. He was in AAA in 1997
and started 1998 in the majors. The Sox appear to have tried to use him
as a LOOGY, but in a small sample size left-handers absolutely murdered him
(11-for-19) while he did okay against righties (5-for-20). He went 0-0,
13.50 in 6.2 innings spread over nine appearances, which sounds worse than it
was as all the runs scored on him came in three of the nine outings.
Still, he was back in the minors by the end of April. He stayed there
most of the rest of his career, getting one more brief shot at the majors for a
week in July of 1999 with similar results. He became a free agent after
the season and signed with Minnesota. Rizzo was with AAA Salt Lake all of
the 2000 season, going 6-4, 3.39, 1.44 WHIP in 72.1 innings (62
appearances). He moved on after the season, pitching in the Dodgers’ and
Giants’ organizations in 2001 and then playing for Camden in the independent
Atlantic League from 2002-2006 with the exception of a stint in the Baltimore
system in 2003. At last report, Todd Rizzo was an instructor for
Maplezone Sports Institute in the Philadelphia area. He was also still
pitching at least as of 2012, as he led Wayne to the finals of the Delco
Baseball League, an amateur baseball league in Delaware County, Pennsylvania,
in that year.
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