Lee Head played in the minors for twenty-one seasons. He batted .304, but he was best known for his ability to avoid striking out. In 1933 he struck out three times in 468 at-bats. In 1935 he did even better, striking out once in 402 at-bats.
Chet Trail is the only player to have been on a World Series roster who never appeared in a major league game, regular season or post-season. He is also the last man to make an out against Satchel Paige in an organized baseball game while playing in the Carolina League in 1966. After baseball, he became a pastor and eventually a bishop in the Church of God in Christ.
Third baseman Brad Mills was drafted by Minnesota in the 16th round of the 1977 January draft, but did not sign.
Rick Adair was in baseball from 1979-2013. Most recently, he was the pitching coach of the Baltimore Orioles. He is the nephew of former Twins pitching coach Art Fowler.
One would not normally think of Phillip Joseph Nevin as a "utility player", but he played 483 major league games at third base, 249 at first, 128 in the outfield, and 109 behind the plate, plus another 119 at designated hitter. He was with the Twins for the last month of the 2006 season. Nevin was born in Fullerton, California, went to high school in Placentia, California, and then attended Cal State--Fullerton, where he was a teammate of Dan Naulty. He was drafted by Houston with the first pick of the 1992 draft. He played for the Olympic team that summer, so his professional career did not start until 1993. Nevin began at AAA, was there for a little over two years, and made it to the majors in mid-June 0f 1995. He did not hit, was sent back down after about a month, and then was traded to Houston after another month. He got a September callup with Detroit, but was back in the minors in 1996, getting called up to the Tigers in August. He finally spent a full season in the majors in 1997, but he was a part-time player and did not do a whole lot. After the season, Nevin was traded to Anaheim. Again a part-time player in 1998, Nevin continued to not do a whole lot. Just before the 1999 season, he was traded to San Diego. Finally given the chance to play every day, he blossomed. In six and a half years as a Padre, he hit .288, twice hitting over .300, twice getting minor MVP consideration, and making the all-star team in 2001. He was having a down year in 2005, and was 34 years old by then, so he was traded to Texas at the July deadline. He did not hit as a Ranger, and in late May of 2006 he was on the move again, this time to the Cubs. He was there for two months, and was traded to Minnesota at the end of August for a player to be named later (Adam Harben). Nevin played in only 16 games for the Twins, getting 54 at-bats. He hit .190/.340/.286 with one home run. No one picked him up after the season, and his career was over. Since then, Phil Nevin has done some work for the Padres' Radio Network and for ESPN. He managed the Orange County Flyers of the Golden Baseball League in 2009. In 2010 he managed the AA Erie Seawolves, from 2011-2013 he was manager of the AAA Toledo Mud Hens, and in 2014 he became the manager of the Reno Aces, which he did through 2016. He was the third base coach for the San Francisco Giants in 2017 and was the third base coach for the New York Yankees from 2018-2021. He was the third base coach for the Los Angeles Angels at the start of 2022, but became the manager on June 7 and remained their manager through the 2023 season, after which he was let go. He was rumored to be a candidate for the San Diego Padres' managerial job, but did not get it. No information about what Phil Nevin will do in 2024 was readily available.
Infielder James Richard Beresford played ten games for the Twins in 2016. He was born in Mount Waverly, Australia, went to high school in Melbourne, and signed with the Twins as a free agent in 2005. He posted good batting averages and decent on-base percentages throughout his minor league career, but had almost no power, hitting only four home runs in over a thousand minor league games. He spent two years in rookie ball, two years in low-A, and one year in high-A, reaching AA in 2012, at which time he was sill only twenty-three. He got to AAA in mid-2013 and stayed there until he got a September callup in 2016. His AAA numbers were .286/.334/.342. In his ten games with the Twins he hit .227/.261/.273. He became a free agent after the 2016 season and did not sign with anyone, bringing his playing career to an end. Had he come up when teams had smaller pitching staffs and more bench players, he might have been able to have a decent career as a utility infielder, but unfortunately for him, he didn't. Still, he did get those ten games, and it's ten games more than I'll ever get. His brother, Simon, played in the Milwaukee Brewers' organization. At last report, James Beresford had returned to Melbourne, Australia.
Right-handed reliever Jharel Leandre Cotton pitched for the Twins for a couple of months in 2022. He was born in St. Thomas, went to high school in Newport News, Virginia, attended Miami Dade College and East Carolina University, and was drafted by the Dodgers in the twentieth round in 2012. He was mostly a starter in the minors. He reached AAA in 2014, but didn't have much success there until a trade to the Oakland organization in 2016. He made five starts for the Athletics in September of that year and did very well. Placed in the rotation at the start of 2017, he struggled to 9-10, 5.58 record, although he stayed in the rotation most of the year. He then missed 2018 due to Tommy John surgery and continued to deal with injuries in 2019, pitching just 27.2 minor league innings. He was sold to the Cubs after the season, did not pitch in the COVID season of 2020, was released in September of that year, and signed with Texas for 2021. Now pitching out of the bullpen, he made his way back to the majors in late July and did fairly well. He was a free agent after the season and signed with Minnesota for 2022. He did very well in AAA and also did very well over two months for the Twins, going 2-2, 2.83, 1.11 WHIP with 31 strikeouts in 35 innings. Despite that, he was waived in mid-September and claimed by San Francisco. He made five appearances for them and again became a free agent. He went to Japan in 2023 and did not have a particularly good season for Orix. He turns thirty-two today. We wish him well, but it may be time for Jharel Cotton to move to the next phase of his life.
Right-hander Nicholas Edward Burdi did not play for the Twins, but was in their farm system from 2014-2017. He was born in Hinsdale, Illinois, went to high school in Downers Grove, Illinois, attended the University of Louisville, and was drafted by Minnesota in the second round in 2014. A reliever, he had huge strikeout numbers in the low minors--38 in 20.1 innings in 2014 and 83 in 63.2 innings in 2015. He missed most of 2016 and 2017 due to elbow injuries. Because of that, the Twins chose to put lesser but healthy pitchers on their forty-man roster and leave Burdi unprotected after the 2017 season. He was chosen by Philadelphia, but was immediately traded to Pittsburgh for international slot money. He again missed most of the season due to injury, pitching in a total of twelve games in 2018. Two of them were in the majors in September. He started the 2019 season with the Pirates, but pitched only eleven games in April before getting injured again. 2020 was the same story--this time he was able to appear in just three games before being injured. He became a free agent after the season and signed with San Diego but was unable to pitch in 2021 or 2022. He was waived by the Padres in December of 2022 and was claimed by the Cubs. He spent most of the season in AAA, making three appearances in the majors in May, but again missed time due to injury. A free agent after the season, he signed with the Yankees for 2024. For his career he is 2-2, 9.39, 1.89 WHIP in nineteen games (15.1 innings). He turns thirty-one today. If he'd been able to stay healthy he might have had a good career, but so far that's not the way it's worked out. You never know--maybe this will be the year. We'll see.
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