June 18

Charlie Ganzel (1862)

Russ Hodges (1910

Ron Necciai (1932)
Lou Brock (1939)
Bill James (1949)
Andres Galarraga (1961)
Sandy Alomar (1966)
Felix Heredia (1975)
Tommy Watkins (1980)
Steve Cishek (1986)
Jason Castro (1987)
J. B. Shuck (1987)

Russ Hodges was a baseball broadcaster from 1929-1970, most notably with the Giants.  He is most famous for his home run call on Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World" in 1951.

Ron Necciai struck out 27 batters in a nine inning game while playing for Bristol in the Appalachian League in 1952.

It may never happen, but Bill James belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Infielder Thomas Gray Watkins appeared in nine games for the Twins in 2007.  Born and raised in Fort Myers, he was drafted by Minnesota in the 38th round in 1998 and spent his entire career in the Twins’ organization.  You could say that he rose through the ranks rather slowly:  he was in rookie ball for three years, in Class A for three more years, in AA for two-plus years, and in AAA for three-plus years.  He was never a hitter, either for average or for power.  In three years of rookie ball he hit .240 with an OPS of .647; in three years at Class A he hit .244 with an OPS of .628; in AA his average was .246 and his OPS .671; and in AAA it was an average of .255 and an OPS of .689.  His main asset appears to have been the ability to play a variety of positions, as he logged time at shortstop, second base, third base, outfield, and even caught once and made three appearances as a pitcher.  Watkins’ best year was probably 2007, when he hit .272 with an OPS of .753 at AAA Rochester.  That was also the year he spent his only time in the majors, about two weeks in the month of August.  He made the most of it, going 10-for-28 for a line of .357/.438/.357.  He was always a very popular player in the minors; Rochester held a “Tommy Watkins Day” in 2009 when it became apparent that his playing career was coming to a close.  He started his coaching career at mid-season of 2010, working for the GCL Twins and the Ft. Myers Miracle.  He became the batting coach at Beloit in 2011 and followed the team to Cedar Rapids, staying there through 2015.  Tommy Watkins was the batting coach for the Chattanooga Lookouts in 2016, managed the Cedar Rapids Kernels in 2017, wsa back in Chattanooga as the manager of the Lookouts in 2018, and has been the first base coach for the Twins since 2019.

Catcher Jason Michael Castro played for the Twins from 2017-2019.  Born and raised in Castro Valley, California, he attended Stanford and was drafted by Houston in the first round with the tenth pick in 2008.  He hit well in 2009 in a season split between high-A and AA.  He was having a decent but unspectacular season in AAA in 2010 when he was called up to the majors in mid-June.  He didn't hit, and really would not have been expected to, but presumably played good defense.  He missed the 2011 season due to knee surgery.  He did well in 2012 in a part-time role and became the regular catcher in 2013.  He had his best season so far that year, batting .276/.350/.485 with 18 home runs and making his first (and so far only) all-star team.  He has never come close to those numbers since, batting in the .220s or lower his next three seasons.  He became a free agent after the 2016 season and signed with Minnesota.  He did a little better at the plate in 2017, batting .242/.333/.388.  He was signed, however, to improve the Twins defense at the catcher position, and by all accounts he did so.  He was off to a poor start in 2018, then tore his meniscus in early May and was done for the season.  He came back for the Twins in 2019, sharing time at catcher with Mitch Garver.  He became a free agent after the 2019 season and signed with the Angels.  He turns thirty-three today.  As a Twin he batted .229/.325/.390, numbers that are right in line with his career numbers.  We wish him well in the 2020 season, if there is a 2020 season.

Outfielder Jack Burnett Shuck did not play for the Twins, but was in AAA for them in 2017.  He was born in Westerville, Ohio, went to high school in Galion, Ohio, attended Ohio State, and was drafted by Houston in the sixth round in 2008.  He posted good averages and on-base percentages, but little power, through the minor leagues.  He reached the major leagues in August of 2011 and did pretty well, batting .272 with an on-base percentage of .359.  The Astros sent him back to AAA in 2012, and despite the fact that he batted .298 there and Houston had two regular outfielders with an OPS of below .600, they left Shuck in the minors all season.  He became a free agent after that season and signed with the Angels.  He was their regular left-fielder and did well, batting .293/.331/.366.  He struggled at the start of the 2014 season, went to AAA in early May, and was sold to Cleveland in September.  The White Sox signed him for 2015 and he did all right as a reserve outfielder.  He batted just .205 in 2016, however, and was again a free agent, signing with Minnesota for 2017.  He spent the season in Rochester and was not awful, but not good enough to justify coming to the majors.  He again became a free agent and signed with Miami for 2018.  He was in the majors for the first half of the season but got little accomplished there, batting just .192 before being sent back to AAA.  Again a free agent after the season, he signed with Pittsburgh for 2019 and spent the first month of the season in the majors, but again did not hit.  He hit fairly well in AAA, but since 2016 his major league average is .202, and there's not a lot of call for that.  The Pirates released him after the season.  He signed with Washington for 2020, but was released at the end of May.  We wish him well, but one suspects that J. B. Shuck's time as a player is nearly over, if it's not over already.