Mark Payton was drafted by the Twins in the thirty-first round in 2010 but did not sign.
Outfielder Shane Lee Mack played for Minnesota from 1990-1994, which were the best years of his career. Born in Los Angeles, he attended Gahr High School in Cerritos, California and then went to UCLA. He was drafted by San Diego with the 11th pick of the 1984 draft. He was off to a tremendous start at AAA Las Vegas in 1987, hitting .336, when the Padres called him up in late May. He struggled in a part-time role, however, and was back with Las Vegas in 1988. Again hitting very well, he was given a starting job with the Padres, but again had trouble at bat and was back in AAA by late July. After an injury-plagued 1989, all of which was spent in the minors, Mack was left unprotected by San Diego, and was selected by Minnesota in the rule 5 draft. It was a good move. Mack hit over .300 in four of his five years with the Twins, and also had an OPS over .850 in four of his five years. A free agent after 1994, the players' strike left Mack without a contract, and so he accepted a large contract to play for the Yomiuri Giants. After two years in Japan, Mack came back to the United States, but would never again be a starting outfielder. He signed with Boston in 1997 and hit .315 in a reserve role. A free agent again after the season, he signed with Oakland, but got only two at-bats with the Athletics before being traded in early April to Kansas City. He again hit well in a reserve role, but again became a free agent. He was signed by San Diego in December of 1998, but did not play again. As a Twin, Shane Mack hit .309/.375/.479, for an OPS+ of 130. He was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002. His son, Casey, played baseball for Florida Gulf Coast University. No information about what Shane Mack is doing now was readily available.
Right-hander Rabell Saul Rivera did not play for the Twins, but was originally drafted by them. The right-hander was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and attended the University of Mobile. He was drafted by Minnesota in the ninth round in 1998. A reliever, he pitched pretty well in the Twins' minor-league system for three year, advancing as high as AA in that time. During the 2001-02 off-season, he was selected on waivers by the Mets. He did not stay there long, as he became the player to be named later in a deal with Montreal, going to the Expos organization in mid-July of 2002. He was apparently injured in 2003, as he did not play at all, and in July of 2004 Rivera was traded to Milwaukee. Still in AA, he became a minor-league free agent after the season and signed with Washington. The Nationals again placed him in AA; in all, he spent five seasons at AA. Despite the fact that he had an ERA of 3.22 in those seasons, teams were obviously hesitant to advance him any farther. Once they decided to move him up, however, it happened quickly; after only 12 games of AAA in 2006, Rivera was in the big leagues. He was a solid contributor to the Nationals bullpen from 2006-08, but stumbled in 2009, was sent down to AAA in early May, and spent most of the rest of the season there. He was released after the season, signed with Cleveland a couple of weeks later, was sold to Arizona in mid-May, was released in late July, and signed with Cleveland in late August. He made four appearances for the Diamondbacks in mid-to-late May of 2010. He played briefly in the Mexican League in 2011 but was not very effective. He moved on to the Atlantic League in 2012, having a fine season for Sugar Land. He does not appear to have played anywhere in the summer 2013. He signed with Long Island in the Atlantic League for 2014 but does not appear to have actually pitched for them. He continued to play winter ball through 2015, then his playing career ended. He was an instructor with Quinco Sports Academy in Winter Park, Florida for a while but again, it does not appear that he is still working there. Thus, no information about what Saul Rivera is doing now was readily available.
Infielder/outfielder Spencer Gordon Steer did not play for the Twins, but came up through their farm system. He was born and raised in Long Beach, California, attended the University of Oregon, and was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 2019. He did not hit for power in college, but posted good batting averages and drew walks. He quickly proved he was too good for the Appalachian League in 2019 and did okay when promoted to Cedar Rapids. He did not play in the COVID season of 2020, but when he came back in 2021 he hit twenty-four homers in a season split between Cedar Rapids and Wichita. He started 2022 in Wichita, was promoted to St. Paul, and then was traded to Cincinnati with Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Steve Hajjar for Tyler Mahle in early August. It's a trade that will not go down as one of Derek Falvey's best. Steer continued to hit in AAA Louisville and was promoted to the Reds as a September call-up. He drew walks, but otherwise did not do particularly well, batting .211/.306/.326 in 95 at-bats. He had a strong 2023, however, he batting .273, hitting 23 homers, posting an OPS of .820, and finishing sixth in Rookie of the Year voting. He did not match those numbers in 2024, but still hit 20 homers and had an OPS of .721. He turns twenty-seven today. The Reds will be counting on him to have a solid 2025 season.
No comments:
Post a Comment