July 1

Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year which has not been updated.

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)
Charlie Blackmon (1986)
Michael Wacha (1991)
Aaron Sanchez (1992)
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 in 2019.  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 has continued to put up excellent numbers, batting .304/.386/.598 as a Twin with 76 home runs in 2 1/2 seasons.  He was traded to Tampa Bay in late July of 2021 with Calvin Faucher for Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman.  He hit thirteen home runs for the Rays, but otherwise did little.  He signed with Washington for 2022 and did not have a very good season.  He signed with San Diego for 2023 and has done better, but nowhere near what he used to do.  He turns forty-three today, and it's reasonable to think he's nearing the end of his career.  It's been a darn good career, though.  He has made seven all-star teams, has four silver slugger awards, and has finished in the top ten in MVP voting five times.  He probably won't make the Hall of Fame, but he certainly has had a career to be proud of.

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.

Right-hander Aaron Jacob Sanchez appeared in eight games for the Twins in 2022.  Born and raised in Barstow, California, he was drafted by Toronto in the first round in 2010.  He reached Class A in 2012, high-A in 2013, and in 2014 went through AA, AAA, and then the majors in late July.  With the exception of some rehab assignments, he stayed there through 2019.  He was a reliever in 2014, started 2015 in the starting rotation, then moved back to the bullpen following an injury.  He returned to the starting rotation in 2016 and had the best season of his career, going 15-2, leading the league in ERA at 3.00, and making the all-star team.  He missed much of 2017 due to injury and has not been the same pitcher since.  The Blue Jays were very patient with him, but finally traded him to Houston at the July deadline in 2019.  He pitched better for them in four starts, but became a free agent after the season.  He missed all of 2020 but signed with San Francisco in 2021.  He pitched well for them when he could pitch, but that was only nine games.  A free agent again, he signed with Washington for 2022, was awful in seven starts, and was released in late May.  The Twins signed him a week later and sent him to AAA.  He did fairly well there and came up to the Twins in August.  He was--not awful, but not particularly good, either.  He has been in St. Paul all of 2023 and has not been good at all.  He turns thirty-one today.  He was good prior to his injury but has not been good since, and while we have no reason to wish him ill there seems to be very little reason to think he will ever be good again.

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 got twelve more at bats with San Francisco in 2020 and went 2-for-12.  He got nine more at-bats in 2021 and went 1-for-9.  The Giants waived him in late April of 2022 and Boston claimed him.  He spent about two weeks in the majors and went 8-for-24, but spent the bulk of the season in AAA and did not do well there.  A free agent after the season, he signed with the Mets and has been pretty good in AAA.  He turns twenty-nine today and has had eighty-seven major league at-bats, batting .207/.274/.299.  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.  So far the latter seems to be the case.  It's still possible that Jaylin Davis could have a decent major league career, but the chance gets smaller with each passing day.