Right-handed reliever Douglas Mitchell Corbett played for the Twins from 1980-1982. Born and raised in Sarasota, Florida, he attended the University of Florida. Kansas City signed him as a free agent in 1974. He did fairly well in 11 outings in rookie ball, but the Royals released him in April of 1975. The Reds signed him and he spent five years in their farm system as a reliever, posting an ERA well under 3.00 every year, with two of those years coming in AAA. Cincinnati was not impressed, however, and left Corbett unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. The Twins signed him, and almost immediately made him their closer. He saved 23 games that year, but was not used as closers are used today: Corbett pitched 136 innings in 73 games. He finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1980, and made the all-star team in 1981, when he led the league in appearances. After a slow start in 1982, Corbett was traded to the Angels along with Rob Wilfong for Tom Brunansky, Mike Walters, and $400,000. He was used mostly as a setup man for the Angels through 1986. He had some up years and some down ones, and spent some time with AAA Edmonton in 1982-83. He began 1987 with Edmonton, and despite the fact that he was pitching well there, he was released in June. Baltimore signed him, but he did nothing for the Orioles and was released in August, bringing his playing career to a close. As a Twin, he was 10-14 with 43 saves. He pitched 246 innings in 137 games, posting an ERA of 2.49, a WHIP of 1.20, and an ERA+ of 169. He is a member of the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame and was an assistant baseball coach there for a few years. He also was a coach at the University of Jacksonville. At last report, Doug Corbett was coaching high school baseball in Jacksonville, Florida, but that report is a few years old now.
Infielder Jonathan Taylor Shave played in nineteen games for the Twins in 1998. He was born in Waycross, Georgia, went to high school in Fernandina Beach, Florida, attended Mississippi State, and was drafted by Texas in the 5th round in 1990. He advanced fairly quickly through the Rangers' system, reaching AAA by 1993. He spent about a month with Texas in 1993 and did well, hitting .319 in 52 at-bats. He never hit like that in AAA, however; in four seasons at Oklahoma City, his highest average was .266. Shave became a free agent after the 1996 season and signed with the Twins. He hit over .330 in two years with AAA Salt Lake, spending about two months with the big club in 1998. The Twins put Shave on waivers in November of 1998, and he was taken by the Rangers again. He was with Texas all of 1999, his only full year in the majors, appearing in 43 games and batting .288. In 2000, however, he was back in AAA, and was let go after the season. Shave went to the Red Sox in 2001, but never got back to the majors and called it quits after the season. As a Twin, he hit .250 with 1 home run in 40 at-bats. He owned a business called Hotspot Internet Center in Yulee, Florida, when he was arrested in March of 2013 on several counts of racketeering and money laundering. No information was readily available on how the case came out, and in fact my quick google search does not even turn up any mention of it any more. He must have come out of it all right, though, because at last report he was a high school baseball coach back in Fernanda Beach.
Right-hander Kevin Albert Francis Frederick made eight appearances for the Twins in 2002. He was born in Evanston, Illinois, attended high school in Lincolnshire, Illinois, and then attended Creighton University, where he was a two-time Missouri Valley Conference all-star. He was drafted in the 34th round by the Twins in 1998. Frederick was a reliever throughout his minor league career. He was apparently injured much of 1999, but other than that progressed at a pace of roughly a level a year, reaching AAA in 2002. He spent roughly a month with the Twins in 2002, posting a 10.03 ERA in 11.2 innings. The Twins put Frederick on waivers near the end of 2003 spring training, and he was chosen by Toronto. He had a tremendous year in the Blue Jays' minor league system in 2004, posting an ERA of 1.11 in 38 appearances. He earned a couple more months in the big leagues that year, but was not particularly effective, with an ERA of 6.59 in 22 appearances. He was out of baseball in 2005, but tried to make a comeback in the Boston organization in 2006. Kevin Frederick last seen pitched for the Reno Silver Sox in the Golden Baseball League in 2008. At last report, he had returned to Illinois and was coaching youth baseball in Lake County.
Left-hander Carmen Salvatore Cali appeared in twenty-four games for the Twins in 2007. He was born in Cleveland, attended Florida Atlantic University and then was drafted by St. Louis in the tenth round in 2000. He was a starter in rookie ball that year, but was converted to the bullpen in 2001. Cali's minor league record is a pretty mixed bag, but he is left-handed, which got him brief shots in the majors with the Cardinals in 2004 and 2005. After the 2006 season, Cali was released by St. Louis, and signed with Minnesota. He had a fine year with Rochester in 2007, reaching the Twins in late May. He got off to a strong start, going unscored upon in his first seven outings (5.1 innings), but gave up four runs in his next appearance and was sent back to Rochester in early July, returning in early August. He made 24 appearances as a Twin, pitching 21 innings with a 4.71 ERA and a 1.81 WHIP. He was in Rochester again in 2008, but was released after the season. Cali spent 2009 in the Dodgers' organization, but was released in late June, ending his playing career. At last report, Carmen Cali was a project manager for Frontier Custom Homes in Naples, Florida.
Right-hander Chih-Wei Hu did not play for the Twins but was originally signed by them. He was born in Taichung, Taiwan and signed with the Twins in August of 2012 as a free agent at the age of eighteen. He did extremely well in the low minors, reaching high-A Fort Myers in 2015 and making one emergency start in Rochester that year, where he also did well. At the July trade deadline, however, he was traded to Tampa Bay along with Alexis Tapia for Kevin Jepsen. He had an excellent year in AA in 2016. In 2017, the Rays switched him from starting to the bullpen and he continued to pitch well for AAA Durham. He was briefly up with the Rays several times, pitching a total of ten innings over six appearances. In 2018, however, he went back to starting and did not have a good year in AAA. He was again up briefly with the Rays three times, appearing in five games. After the season he was traded to Cleveland. He again both started and relieved in AAA, but did poorly and was released in late July. The Cubs signed him about a week later and he pitched poorly in eleven innings of AA. He appeared in just twenty-three games combined, so one wonders if he was injured. He signed with San Diego for 2020, but did not play for them. He is playing winter ball and is off to a good start. So far in the majors he has gone 1-1, 3.52, 0.83 WHIP in twenty-three innings (eleven games) He turns twenty-seven today. As teams are always looking for pitching, it seems like someone would at least take him to spring training in 2021, assuming there is spring training in 2021. He still could have a major league career, but if he doesn't get it going pretty soon time will run out on him.
No comments:
Post a Comment