July 1

Roger Connor (1857)
John Clarkson (1861)
Jack Quinn (1883)
Ben Taylor (1888)
Bob Prince (1916)
Frank Baumann (1933)
Brian Sabean (1956)
Jamie Walker (1971)
Nelson Cruz (1980)
Matt Carson (1981)
Justin Huber (1982)
Jaylin Davis (1994)

First baseman Ben Taylor was a star in the Negro Leagues, batting over .300 in fifteen of his sixteen seasons.

Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Prince is best remembered for his years with the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1948-1975.

Brian Sabean was the general manager of the San Francisco Giants from 1997-2014 and has been their executive vice president of baseball operations since that time.

Outfielder/DH Nelson Ramon Cruz came to the Twins for the 2019 season.  He was born in Las Matas de Santa Cruz, Dominican Republic, went to high school in Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic, and signed with the Mets as a free agent in 1998.  While he was still in rookie ball, the Mets traded him to Oakland in August of 2000.  He became a professional when he was still quite young, so it understandably took him a while to get started.  He hit twenty homers in Class A in 2003, had an outstanding 2004 split between high-A and AA.  That off-season, however, Oakland traded him to Milwaukee.  He split 2005 between AA and AAA and earned a September call-up that year.  He was tearing up AAA in 2006 when the Brewers traded him to Texas at mid-season.  He spent the rest of 2006 and the start of 2007 in the majors, but struggled to make the transition.  He continued to tear up AAA, and was in danger of being labelled a AAAA player.  In 2009, however, he finally broke through, hitting thirty-three home runs and making his first all-star team.  His best year as a Ranger was actually 2010--he hit just twenty-two homers, but batted .318 and had a OPS of .950.  He became a free agent after the 2013 season and signed with Baltimore.  He led the league in homers in 2014 with forty, but was again a free agent and signed with Seattle.  He gave the Mariners four fine seasons, leading the league in RBIs in 2017, and posting an OPS of over ,900 in three of the four years.  A free agent again, he signed with Minnesota and again put up excellent numbers, batting .311 with forty-one home runs and an OPS of 1.031 at this writing.  He has made six all-star teams, has three silver slugger awards, and has finished in the top ten in MVP voting five times.  He turns forty today, so who knows how the long layoff might affect him.  He won't play defense again other than in a dire emergency, but as far as we can tell it he looks like he can play bat for at least a couple more seasons.

Outfielder Matthew Reese Carson played in twenty-six games for the Twins in 2012.  He was born in Newport Beach, California, went to high school in Yucaipa, California, attended Brigham Young University, and was drafted by the Yankees in the fifth round in 2002.  He went back and forth between A and AA from 2004-06 before finally playing a full year of AA in 2007.  He reached AAA in 2008 and did well there, batting .285 with an OPS of .825, but by then he was twenty-six years old.  He became a minor league free agent and signed with Oakland for 2009.  He hit twenty-five homers with AAA Sacramento that season, which got him a September call-up.  He split 2010 between AAA in the majors.  He hit very well in Sacramento but played sporadically with the Athletics and did not do well when he did play, batting .177 in 79 at-bats.  He was having another fine season for Sacramento in 2011 when he was sold to Tampa Bay on August 1.  The Rays did not bring him to the majors, he became a free agent again, and signed with Minnesota.  He had a fine year for Rochester in 2012 and was called up to the Twins in mid-August.  He got only sixty-six at-bats, however, batting .227/.246/.242.  He signed with Cleveland for 2013 and again spent most of his summer in AAA, getting a call-up in late August but getting just eleven at-bats.  He stayed in AAA with the Indians for 2014, signed with the Dodgers for 2015, was sold to Oakland on May 8, and was released on June 20.  No information about what Matt Carson has done since then was readily available.

First baseman/outfielder Justin Huber had two at-bats with the Twins in 2009.  He was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia and was signed by the Mets in 2000.  He hit well throughout his early minor league career, reaching AAA briefly in 2004.  He was then traded to Kansas City, for whom he reached the majors for a week in June and then received a September call-up in 2005.  He had been a catcher in the Mets’ system, but was moved to first base by the Royals.  He hit well in AAA for Kansas City, but got only brief trials with the big club, batting only 98 times in three seasons.  He was sold to San Diego late in spring training of 2008 but did not get much of a chance there, getting 61 at-bats in 33 games.  Huber became a free agent after the 2008 season and the Twins signed him.  He hit .273 with 22 homers in Rochester in 2009, earning a September call-up.  Unfortunately, he got only two at-bats, going 1-for-2, before being injured for the rest of the season.  Minnesota released him after the season, and he signed to play for the Hiroshima Carp in Japan.  He came back to the United States and signed with Minnesota for 2011, but was released during spring training.  He played for Somerset in the Atlantic League, then went back to his native Melbourne to play in the Australian League.  He has since retired and at last report was the general manager of the Melbourne Aces.  He probably could never have been a star, but he was a guy with some pop in his bat who could play first, corner outfield, and catch.  It seems like that would have been a valuable bench player, but no one wanted to give him the chance to do it.

Outfielder Jaylin Malik Davis did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system for about three and a half years.  He was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, attended Appalachian State, and was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-fourth round in 2015.  He was not a big power hitter in college, hitting just ten home runs in three seasons, but he hit sixteen homers in his first professional season in 2016.  He struggled when promoted to high-A in 2017 and was okay, but nothing special in a 2018 season split between high-A and AA.  In 2019, however, he hit .331 with 15 homers and an OPS of 1.112 in forty-one games at AAA Rochester.  At the end of July, however, he was traded to San Francisco along with Prelander Berroa and Kai-Wei Teng for Sam Dyson.  He continued to hit at about that same pace in AAA for the Giants and got a September call-up, batting .167/.255/.238 with one home run in 42 at-bats.  He turns twenty-six today and is in the Giants sixty-man player pool.  As Dyson did nothing for the Twins, the only question from a Twins standpoint is whether this turns out to be a terrible trade or a nothing-for-nothing deal.  Losing most of a year of development at this stage of his career definitely hurts Davis, as this was going to be a crucial year for him anyway.  If things go well for him, though, this could be the first step of a solid career.  We wish him well.