December 27

Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year which has not been updated.

Jim Tobin (1912)

Phil Gagliano (1941)

Roy White (1943)

Craig Reynolds (1952)

Jim Leyritz (1963)

Dean Palmer (1968)

Jeff D’Amico (1975)
Jason Repko (1980)
David Aardsma (1981)
Michael Bourn (1982)
Cole Hamels (1983)
Tyler Duffey (1990)

Outfielder Jason Edward Repko was a reserve for the Twins in 2010. He was born in East Chicago, Indiana, went to high school in Richland, Washington, and was drafted in the first round by the Dodgers in 1999. He was up and down in the minors, but got it going in 2004 when he hit .303 with 13 homers in a year split between AA and AAA, actually hitting a little better in AAA that year. As a result, he spent almost all of 2005 and most of 2006 in the majors with the Dodgers. The latter was his best year in the majors so far, as he hit .254 with an OPS of .722 in 130 at-bats. He missed all of 2007 with an ankle injury and was back in the minors for most of 2008 and 2009. He hit well there, combining for an average of .281 and an OPS of .812, but got only cups of coffee in the majors, getting a total of 23 big league at bats. The Dodgers released him at the end of March of 2010, and he signed with the Twins a week later. He did fairly well in Rochester and came up to the Twins in late June. He got off to a hot start but then struggled, hitting just .171 after August 8. He was with Minnesota almost all of 2011 as a reserve outfielder but did nothing offensively.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with Boston for 2012, but spent almost the entire season in AAA, getting only five games in the majors.  A free agent again, he played with York in the Atlantic League in 2013 and didn't do a whole lot.  He retired in 2013, but came back to play for York again in 2014  He was batting .196 when he was hurt in July.  He came back in 2015 with Sioux Falls in the American Assocation and had a fine season, batting .291 with an OPS of .858.  He was with York in the Atlantic League in 2016 and had another solid season.  As a Twin, Jason Repko hit .227/.297/.315 in 260 at-bats.  Those numbers are pretty much in line with his career major league numbers. He's thirty-six today.  It's very unlikely that he'll ever be in the majors again, but he can probably play a couple more years if he wants to, and then he can probably become a coach or a scout or something.

Right-hander Tyler Blinn Duffey made ten starts for the Twins in 2015.  Born and raised in Houston, he attended Rice University (also in Houston) and was drafted by the Twins in the fifth round in 2012.  He was used in relief in Elizabethton that year and was dominant in twelve appearances, but became a starter in 2013.  He pitched very well in Cedar Rapids that year, but not as well when moved up to Fort Myers.  He began 2014 in Fort Myers but was quickly moved up to AA and also made three starts in Rochester.  He started 2015 back in AA but was promoted to Rochester after eight starts.  He pitched very well in both places and made it to the Twins in early August.  In ten starts he went 5-1, 3.10, 1.31 WHIP with 53 strikeouts in 58 innings.  If you throw out a really bad first start his numbers were even better:  5-0, 2.25, 1.23 WHIP.  He obviously wasn't going to do that long-term, but it gave Twins fans reason to hope he'd be a reliable starter.  Maybe he will be, but he wasn't in 2016:  9-12, 6.43, 1.59 WHIP.  He turns twenty-six today, so while he still has time to improve he doesn't have a lot of it.  It's kind of a cliche, but 2017 will be an important year for him.