Masayori Shimura was a pioneering baseball broadcaster in Japan.
Cam Bedrosian is the son of ex-Twin Steve Bedrosian.
Not “the” Al Newman, left-hander Alan Spencer Newman did not pitch for the Twins, but was in their farm system for a few years. He was a big (6′ 6″, 240) left-handed pitcher who was born and raised in LaHabra, California. He attended Fullerton Junior College and was drafted by the Twins in the second round in 1988. He pitched well in Class A, but was not promoted to AA until half-way through the 1991 season. He had a good half-season at AA Orlando, but could not repeat his success there in 1992. In June of 1993, Newman was traded to Cincinnati with Tom Houk for Gary Scott. He was frequently on the move after that: Newman was a part of the organizations of the Cubs, Padres, White Sox, and Padres again. He also spent three years with Alexandria in the independent Texas-Louisiana League. Newman signed with Tampa Bay in 1999, and after going 10-0 with a 2.24 ERA in AAA Durham, he was finally promoted to the big leagues at age 29. He did not pitch well, however, and was released after the season. He hooked on with Cleveland, had a good year with AAA Buffalo, and made it to the Indians for one game in June. Newman was again released after the season. He played in the Japan Central League from 2001-2003, and played in independent leagues from 2004-2006 before finally calling it a career. Alan Newman was an instructor for Baseball Softball World of Yorba Linda, California; however, he is no longer listed as one on their website. At last report, he was living in Pedley, California and was the owner of Old School Baseball, a baseball instructional facility.
Catcher Matthew Lovick Walbeck played for Minnesota from 1994-1996. Born and raised in Sacramento, he was drafted by the Cubs in the eighth round in 1987. He spent five years in rookie and Class A ball, but had a good year when finally promoted to AA Charlotte in 1992, hitting .301. Walbeck made the Cubs out of spring training in 1993, but was returned to the minors in late April after playing in only five games. After the season, he was traded to the Twins with Dave Stevens for Willie Banks. Walbeck was a semi-regular catcher for the Twins for three seasons. He hit .230/.271/.300 as a Twin in 946 at bats, with 8 home runs and 103 RBIs. After the 1996 season, Walbeck was traded to Detroit for Brent Stentz. He was the Tigers’ backup catcher in 1997 and did a good job for them, hitting .277 in 151 at-bats. The Tigers traded him to Anaheim before the 1998 season. Walbeck was a semi-regular for the Angels for three years. He did relatively well his first two years there, but when he slumped to a .199 average in 2000 it was time to move again. In 2001, Walbeck played for the Cincinnati and Philadelphia organizations, batting 1.000 in one at-bat for the Phillies. He was traded to the Tigers before the 2002 campaign, and made it back to the majors in mid-May. Walbeck remained with the Tigers through 2003, and then turned to managing. He was named Eastern League manager of the year in 2010 while heading the Altoona Curve, but was let go after the season. He then was the manager of the Class A Rome Braves, but he was fired in July of 2011. Matt Walbeck is currently living in Fair Oaks, California, where he owns the Walbeck Baseball Academy.
Everyday Eddie Guardado would not make a list of all-time greats, but he is remembered fondly by most Twins’ fans. Left-handed reliever Edward Adrain Guardado played for the Twins from 1993-2003. Born and raised in Stockton, California, he attended San Joaquin Delta College and was drafted by the Twins in the 21st round in 1990. He did not sign until May of 1991. A starter throughout his minor-league career, Guardado was promoted to the Twins in 1993 after a hot start in AA Nashville. He was placed in the Twins’ rotation and made 16 starts for them that year, but he clearly was not ready, going 3-8 with a 6.18 ERA. Guardado made the Twins to stay in 1995. He moved into a set-up role in 1996, and stayed in that role until late 2001, when he became the Twins’ closer after LaTroy Hawkins imploded. He remained the Twins’ closer through 2003 and was a part of the Twins’ playoff teams in 2002-03. Guardado was an all-star in 2002 and 2003 and led the league in saves with 45 in 2002, when he finished 15th in the MVP balloting. He became a free agent after the 2003 season, and signed with Seattle. He did well for the Mariners when healthy, but began having injury problems. Guardado was traded to Cincinnati in July of 2006. He pitched well for the Reds that year, but not so well in 2007, and was released. He signed with Texas in 2008, and was pitching well in a set-up role when the Twins brought him back in late August in an attempt to bolster their bullpen in a playoff push, trading minor league pitcher Mark Hamburger for him. Most people were happy to see Everyday Eddie back in a Twins uniform, but he was unable to help, and 2009 found Guardado back with the Rangers. He was decent, but no more, and announced his retirement after the season. He changed his mind and attempted to come back with Washington in 2010, but was released during spring training, bringing his playing career to an end. As a Twin, Guardado was 37-48 with 116 saves. His ERA, inflated by his time as a starter, was 4.55, his WHIP was 1.34, and his ERA+ was 104. He is thought of by Twins fans as a tough competitor who was always willing to take the ball and go into battle. He has sponsored the Eddie Guardado Foundation, which helps families affected by autism by reducing their out of pocket expenses for therapy and treatment. He was inducted into the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame in 2013. He became the Twins' bullpen coach in 2015, but was let go after the 2018 season. His oldest son, Niko, is an actor who has been on "The Goldbergs" and the "Party of Five" reboot. At last report, it appeared that Eddie Guardado had moved back to California. He is helping to raise money for autism research.
Infielder Jose Morban did not play for the Twins, but was in spring training with them in 2003. Born and raised in Santiago, Dominican Republic, he signed with Texas as a free agent in 1996. A speedy player with a little pop in his bat, he struggled to keep his batting average at an acceptable level. He also struggled to make contact, fanning over a hundred times in each full minor league season he played. He was still in Class A in 2002, but the Twins saw something they liked, because they chose him in the Rule 5 draft. To make room for him on the roster, the Twins released a failed prospect named David Ortiz. They kept Morban through most of spring training, but placed him on waivers at the end of March and he was chosen by Baltimore. The Orioles apparently liked him, too, because they kept him in the majors all season rather than send him back to Texas. He appeared in 61 games, but got only 71 at-bats; in 23 of his games, he was used as a pinch-runner. Oddly, he was also used at designated hitter in four games, making him the most unlikely DH this side of Jason Tyner. He hit .141/.187/.225 that season with two home runs. Those are also his career numbers, as he never played in the major leagues after that season. He split 2004 between A and AA, then became a free agent and signed with Cleveland. He reached AAA with the Indians in 2005, then moved on to Seattle. He appears to have been injured part of the season, but did not hit when he was healthy and was released in late August. Morban went back to the Rangers in 2007 but was released in mid-April. He then spent three seasons in independent ball before his playing career came to an end. At last report, it appeared that Jose Morban was living in the Dominican Republic.
Outfielder Aaron Michael Hicks played for the Twins from 2013-2015. He was born in San Pedro, California, went to high school in Long Beach, and was drafted by the Twins in the first round in 2008 with the fourteenth pick. He hit well in the Gulf Coast League that year, struggled some when he went to Beloit in 2009, did well when repeating the Midwest League in 2010, had a mediocre year in Fort Myers in 2011, did well in New Britain in 2012, and started 2013 in Minnesota. He was clearly sent to the majors before he was ready. Obviously it's easy to say that now, but there's really very little in his minor league record that suggested he would be ready to play in the majors in 2013. Hicks was the Twins' starting centerfielder for the first half of the season and hit .192/.259/.338. Sent to AAA at the all-star break, he struggled there, too, although that may have been at least partly due to injuries. 2014 was a case of "second verse, same as the first", as he again opened the season as the Twins starting centerfielder, again struggled at the plate, and again was sent back to the minors, this time to AA. He did well in New Britain, did fairly well in Rochester, and was a September callup to the Twins. He started 2015 in AAA, but after hitting .342 in 38 games he was called up to the Twins in mid-May and was their main center fielder the rest of the season. He wasn't a superstar but he showed significant improvement, batting .256/.323/.398. The Twins thought they needed a catcher, however, and traded him to the Yankees after the season for John Ryan Murphy. He flopped in New York in 2016, batting just .217, but did much better in 2017. He had an excellent first half, batting .290/.398/.515, but was injured on June 25 and missed about six weeks. He was not nearly as good when he came back, batting just .216/.304/.402. In 2018, however, he came back strong, hitting twenty-seven home runs and posting an OPS of .833. He was injured at the start of 2019, started very slowly when he came back, and then was injured again in early August, making it kind of a wasted year for him. He was healthier in 2020, but had another poor season, batting just .225, although with an OBP of .379. He was batting below .200 in 2021 when he was injured in mid-May and missed the rest of the season. He stayed healthy in 2022 but wasn't much better. A year ago, we wrote, "At some point, Aaron Hicks is going to have start hitting again if he's going to stay in the major leagues." That point came when he got out of New York. Struggling through another poor season, he was released in late May, signed with Baltimore a few days later, and immediately started hitting again. He was the Orioles starting centerfielder for two months, got hurt, and upon coming back has been a "regular" at all three outfield spots. He has posted an OPS of .818 since going to Baltimore. He turns thirty-four today and will be a free agent. Time will tell if his second half was real, but Aaron Hicks will be in the outfield for someone at the start of 2024.
Right-hander Oliver Ortega appeared in ten games for the Twins in 2023. He was born in Nagua, Dominican Republic, and signed as a free agent with the Angels in December of 2014. He pitched very well in the Arizona League in 2016, missed 2017 due to injury, and came back to have a solid year in Class A in 2018. He did well in high-A in 2019 but struggled in five AA starts. He missed the COVID year of 2020 and was converted to the bullpen in 2021, struggling again in AA but oddly pitching much better in nine AAA appearances. He started 2022 in the majors and pitched well for two months, but not very well in June and was sent back to AAA in early July. He was waived in December of 2022 and claimed by the Twins for 2023. He had a very good year in St. Paul and was with the Twins for about a month in the middle of the season. He made ten appearances, pitching well in seven of them but not so well in the other three. His numbers with the Twins are 0-1, 4.30, 1.23 WHIP with 14 strikeouts in 14.2 innings. He turns twenty-seven today. The Twins have other bullpen options, but it seems likely that Oliver Ortega will be pitching for somebody in 2024.
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