Infielder Chuck Scrivener was drafted by the Twins in the seventeenth round in 1966, but did not sign.
Jim Joyce was a major league umpire from 1989-2016.
Hall of Fame outfielder David Mark Winfield played for the Twins from 1993-1994, near the end of his long career. Born and raised in St. Paul, Winfield attended the University of Minnesota. At 6′ 6′, Winfield starred in basketball as well as baseball in college, and was involved in the famous brawl between Minnesota and Ohio State in 1972. He was drafted by San Diego with the fourth pick of the 1973 draft. He was actually drafted by four teams: the Atlanta Hawks and the Utah Stars basketball teams both drafted him, as did the Minnesota Vikings football team, although he did not play football in college. Winfield is one of a handful of players to never play a game in the minors; he was placed on the Padres immediately in 1973. It was a good move, as he hit .277 that year with an OPS of .714. Winfield became a star in San Diego, making the all-star team four times and twice finishing in the top ten in MVP balloting. He finished third in MVP voting in 1979 despite playing for a team that only won 68 games. He led the league in OPS+, RBIs, and intentional walks that year. After the 1980 season, he became a free agent and signed with the Yankees, for whom he played through May of 1990. Winfield had a tremendous career as a Yankee, but received a lot of criticism for not being Reggie Jackson. As a Yankee, Winfield made the all-star team eight times, was in the top twelve in MVP balloting six times, won five silver sluggers and five gold gloves, and had an OPS+ of 134. He missed the 1989 season due to a back injury, and after a slow start in 1990 he was traded on May 11 to California for Mike Witt. In his late thirties, Winfield had started to decline, but was still a very good batter for the Angels, winning comeback player of the year in 1990. He became a free agent and moved on to Toronto in 1992, where he helped the Blue Jays win a world championship. He came home to sign with the Twins before the 1993 season and played for them for two years. In his early forties, Winfield was clearly no longer what he had been, but he still hit .264/.324/.436 with 31 homers and 110 RBIs for the Twins, with an OPS+ of 100. Shortly after the 1994 players’ strike, Winfield was sold to Cleveland in an attempt to get him into the postseason one more time should the strike be resolved. It wasn’t, but Winfield signed with the Indians in 1995. Age finally caught up with him, however, as he hit only .191 at age 43. Dave Winfield was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2001. He has founded the David M. Winfield Foundation for underprivileged youth and at last report was a special assistant to the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, as well as being available for public speaking. He is also on the board of directors of Southport Acquisition Corporation in San Diego.
Corner infielder/catcher Eric Walter Munson did not play for the Twins, but was in spring training with them in 2005. Born and raised in San Diego, he attended USC and was selected by Detroit with the third pick of the 1999 draft. He showed power immediately in the minors, hitting double digit home runs in every minor league season and hitting over 20 homers in 2001 and 2002. He also drew a solid number of walks. On the down side, his batting averages were in the .250s and .260s, and he struck out a lot, fanning over a hundred times twice and ninety-six times another season. He came up to the majors briefly in 2000, playing in three games in July, and got September call-ups in 2001 and 2002. His only full seasons in the majors were 2003 and 2004, when he was a part-time third baseman. He hit 37 home runs in 634 at-bats in those two years, but his batting average was only .226. That was not considered good enough, and Munson was allowed to become a free agent after the 2004 season. Minnesota signed him but released him in late March. He moved around quite a bit after that. Munson signed with Tampa Bay for 2005 but spent most of the year with AAA Durham, getting only 18 at-bats in the majors. He moved on to the Houston organization in 2006 and went back and forth between Houston and AAA Round Rock for two years, getting a total of 273 at-bats with the Astros. The Astros waived him after the 2007 campaign and he was chosen by Milwaukee. He was apparently injured much of the year, as he played in only 27 games in AAA. After the 2008 season he was on the move again, signing with Oakland. He was in AAA Sacramento almost the entire season, but got one more at-bat in the majors in September. He signed with San Diego for 2010, but hit poorly with AAA Portland and was released in early July. He finished the season playing for the independent Newark Bears. He apparently remained in the Atlantic League in 2011, playing for the Bridgeport Bluefish, but he did not have a good season. He was not ready to give up, but no one was willing to give him another chance and his playing career ended. He received a bachelor's degree in athletic training from North Dakota State, was an assistant coach for USC in 2012, and was the minor league rehabilitation coordinator for the Los Angeles Angels from 2013-16, and has been the Angels' assistant athletic trainer since 2017. He also operates Gold Standard Athletics, a baseball training facility in Dubuque, Iowa.
Right-handed reliever Brock Allen Stewart pitched for the Twins in 2023. Born and raised in Normal, Illinois, he attended Illinois State and was drafted by the Dodgers in the sixth round in 2014. A reliever in college, the Dodgers made him a starter. He did very well in the role and reached the majors in 2016, making five starts. He was not ready for the majors at that point and started 2017 in AAA, but did well there and came back to the majors in mid-June, pitching well in a bullpen role. He struggled in 2018, pitching very well as a starter in AAA but not very well in nine major league appearances. When he struggled again in 2019 the Dodgers waived him and he was claimed by Toronto in late July. After pitching poorly for them, too, he was left unprotected and claimed by the Cubs in the Rule 5 draft after the season. The Cubs released him in May of the COVID year of 2020 and he pitched in independent ball that year. He signed with the Dodgers for 2021 but did not pitch at all that year due to injury. He became a free agent after the season and went unsigned until July of 2022, when the Twins signed him. He did little in the minors that season, but he got off to a fine start in AAA in 2023 and came up to the majors in late April. He was pitching really well until he was injured in late June, coming back to make three more appearances at the end of the season. He was pitching really well again in 2024 until he was once again injured in early May. He tried to come back, but pitched poorly in three July appearances, so he obviously was not healthy yet. As a Twin, he is 2-0, 2.28, 1 save, 1.22 WHIP. He turns thirty-three today. He's had lots of injuries, but when healthy he's been a really good pitcher for the Twins. One assumes he'll be back with them in 2025.
Right-hander Adam Gregory Plutko made on appearance with the Twins in 2024. He was born in Upland, California, attended high school in Glendora, California, went to UCLA, and was drafted by Cleveland in the first round in 2013. He has been a starter throughout his minor league career. He had an excellent 2015 split between high-A and AA. He pitched very well in AA in 2016 but not as well in AAA, despite which he made his major league debut for the Indians in late September. He had a poor year in AAA in 2017 but did very well there in 2018. He got his second chance at the majors that season, spending about half the year there, but it did not go very well. He pitched poorly again in AAA in 2019, but again was promoted to the big leagues and did a little better, although not really good. The shortened 2020 season is his only "full" season in the majors, and he again was pretty mediocre. He was sold to Baltimore before the 2021 season and started the season in the majors. He was good for the first month and a half of the season, then fell apart and was finally sent to the minors in mid-August. He then went to Korea and pitched very well there in 2022-2023. Coming back to the United States, he signed with the Twins in 2024. He spent most of the year in AAA, going 6-2, 4.35, 1.10 WHIP. He made one appearance in the majors, pitching one inning and giving up one run on one hit while striking out one. He turns thirty-three today. There's obviously something about him teams like, but his major league record is 14-14, 5.39, 3 saves, 1.38 WHIP. His AAA record is 27-26, 4.55, 1.26 WHIP. He can probably go back to Korea if he wants to, but it seems unlikely that he'll be able to have much of a major league career.
No comments:
Post a Comment