Don Osborn won 201 games in the minors. He later was a minor league manager, pitching coach, and scout.
Some old-timers say Steve Dalkowski had the fastest fastball ever. He struck out 1,396 batters in 995 minor league innings. However, he also walked 1,354, which is why he never made the majors.
Right-hander Ronald Lee Keller made nine total appearances with the Twins in 1966 and 1968. He was born in Indianapolis and attended Indiana University. The Twins drafted him in the eighth round in 1965. After a strong year at Class A St. Cloud in 1965, he started 1966 in at Class A Wilson, was promoted after seven starts to AA Charlotte, was promoted after seven appearances (six starts) to AAA Denver, and made eight appearances (seven starts) there. He also made two appearances in Minnesota in July, allowing four runs (three earned) in 5.1 innings. Perhaps all the packing and unpacking got to him, because while he was excellent all along the way in 1966, he never had a good season again. He was in AAA Denver for all of 1967 and most of 1968, making six appearances in the majors in the latter year. He made seven appearances that year, posting an ERA of 2.81 in 16 innings. His totals as a Twin were 0-1, 3.38 with a WHIP of 1.41 in 21.1 innings. He appeared in nine games, making one start. 1968 was Keller’s last season as an active player. He went to spring training with the Twins in 1969, but when the Twins wanted to send him back to AAA he decided he had nothing left to prove there and retired. After baseball, he became an investment advisor and was the president of Keller Investment Management in Greenville, South Carolina. It appears that he has now retired. Ron Keller’s son, Jason, is a successful playwright and screenwriter and his wife, Susan, is an actress and spokesperson.
Infielder Nelson Arturo (Bonilla) Liriano is one of the two best Minnesota Twins players ever named “Liriano”. He played for the Twins for about two months of 1990. Liriano was born in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic and signed with Toronto as a free agent in 1982. He had some decent years in the minors, hitting in the .280s a couple of times, but nothing to really make anyone sit up and take notice. Still, he made it to the majors in late August of 1987 and stayed for over three years. He hit in the .260s for the Blue Jays in 1988 and 1989, achieving more-or-less regular status as a second baseman in 1989. He had slipped back to part-time status in 1990, however, when he was traded to Minnesota with Pedro Munoz for John Candelaria in late July. He was the Twins’ regular second baseman the rest of the way, hitting .254/.332/.357 in 185 at-bats. The Twins released Liriano at the end of spring training in 1991 and he signed with Kansas City. He was in the minors almost the entire season, getting only about two weeks in the majors. Let go after that season, he was in AAA for Cleveland in 1992. He moved on to Colorado for 1993-1994, starting the former season in the minors but getting called up after hitting .358 in 293 at-bats in Colorado Springs. He then got four full seasons in the majors, serving as a part-time player for the Rockies, the Pirates, (1995-1996) and the Dodgers (1997). his highest at-bat total in those years was 259, but he was a solid player in his role. He started 1998 back with the Rockies, but was sent back to AAA after starting 0-for-17. That’s how his major league career ended; Liriano hit .315 with Colorado Springs, but never made it back to the big leagues. His playing career ended after that season. He remained in baseball for a while as a minor league coach and manager, mostly in the Royals organization. He was the bench coach for the AA Northwest Arkansas Naturals in the Texas League in 2019. He was slated to be the bench coach of Idaho Falls in the Pioneer League in 2020, but of course there was no minor league season in 2020 and now Idaho Falls no longer has a team. No information about what Nelson Liriano is doing this season was readily available.
Catcher Ryan Michael Jeffers has been with the Twins since 2020. He was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina--Wilmington, and was drafted by the Twins in the second round in 2018. He hit well in the low minors that season and did okay, but nothing special, in a 2019 split between high-A and AA. He was pressed into service at the major league level in the second half of the abbreviated 2020 season due to injuries to the Twins catching staff and actually did pretty well, batting .273 with an OPS of .786 in 83 at-bats. Given a share of the catching job in 2021, he proved himself not ready at the plate, batting just .199. His 2022 was pretty similar. In 2023, however, he took a major step forward, batting .276/.369/.490 as a half-time player. He has been hot and cold in 2024, but his overall numbers are still solid. For his career he is batting .236/.319/.444 in about a thousand at-bats. He turns twenty-seven today. Ryan Jeffers should be a major league catcher for several years to come.
Right-hander Luis Angel Gil did not play for the Twins, but he was initially signed by them. He was born in Azua, Dominican Republic, and signed with the Twins as an international free agent in 2015. He pitched that season in the Dominican Summer League, where he struck out quite a few, but also walked quite a few and did not have a good season. He did not pitch at all in 2016 and was back in the DSL in 2017, where he did a lot better. After that season, the Twins traded him to the Yankees for Jake Cave. He split 2019 between low-A and high-A, missed all of 2020 when there was no minor league season, split 2021 between AA and AAA, and came up to the majors for six starts late in the season. He did not give up a run in the first three, pitching 15.2 scoreless innings. He gave up ten runs in the last three (13.2 innings), giving him a season ERA of 3.07. He did not pitch well in six 2022 AAA starts, nor did he pitch well in one start for the Yankees in 2022, and then he had Tommy John surgery. He missed all of 2023 (except for two starts in Class A), but has been nothing short of awesome so far in 2024: 7-1, 1.99, 0.95 WHIP with 79 strikeouts in 63.1 innings (11 starts). We're going to go out on a limb and say this will not be regarded by history as a good trade for the Twins. He turns twenty-six today. He has been up and down in his career, but he's certainly on a up now. If he stays healthy, Luis Gil looks like he'll be a good pitcher for quite some time.
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