Fourteen Non-Roster Players To Get Spring Training Shot With Minnesota Twins

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MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - 12/21/2006 - MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL -- The Minnesota Twins announced today that they have extended spring training invites to 14 players who are not on the major league roster.

The spring training invite list includes three catchers: Korey Feiner, who was signed by the Twins as a nondrafted free agent, June 9, 2004, Jose Leger, who was signed as a non-drafted free agent, June 28, 2004 and Jose Morales, who the Twins' third round pick in the June, 2001 First-Year Player Draft. Feiner batted .219 (52-237) with seven doubles, one homer and 21 rbi in 81 games last season for Ft. Myers (A, Florida State League), Leger batted a combined .241 (42-174) with seven doubles, two triples and 20 rbi in 65 combined games with Beloit (A, Midwest League), Ft. Myers and New Britain, (AA, Eastern League). Morales batted .211 (53-251) with 14 doubles, one triple, three homers and 26 rbi in 80 games with New Britain and was 1-7 (.143) in two games with Rochester (AAA, International League).

Four infielders have been invited to camp: Ken Harvey, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent, December 15, 2006, Gil Velazquez, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent, November 20, 2004, Tommy Watkins, the Twins' 38th round pick in the June, 1998 First-Year Player Draft and Glenn Williams, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent, December 15, 2004. Harvey missed all of last season recovery from surgery to repair a ruptured Achille's Tendon, Velazquez batted .375 (6-16) with two doubles and three rbi in six games with New Britain and .250 (41-164) with four doubles, one triple, one homer and 17 rbi in 56 games with Rochester, Watkins batted .218 (22-101) with two doubles, one triple and eight rbi in 32 games with New Britain and .276 (48-174) with 10 doubles, four homers and 23 rbi in 60 games with Rochester, and Williams batted .257 (95-370) with 20 doubles, four triples, seven homers and 36 rbi in 113 games for Rochester last season.

One outfielder has been invited to camp: Josh Rabe, the Twins' 11th round pick in the June, 2000 free agent draft. Rabe batted .299 (106-355) with 20 doubles, one triple, six homers and 47 rbi in 93 games with Rochester and .286 (14-49) with one double, three homers and seven rbi in 24 games with the Twins last season.

Six pitchers have been invited to camp: lefthanders Carmen Cali, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent, December 4, 2006, Jason Miller, the Twins' fourth round pick in the June, 2000 First-Year Player Draft, and Mike Venafro, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent, December 4, 2006, and righthanders Tristan Crawford, who was signed by the Twins as a non-drafted free agent, May 15, 2000, Jeremy Cummings, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent, November 29, 2006, and Kevin Slowey, the Twins' second round pick in the June, 2005 free agent draft. Cali was 0-2, 3.00 (39.0 ip, 13 er) with 15 walks and 35 strikeouts in 23 appearances (three starts) with Springfield (AA, Texas League) and 1-4, 5.60 (27.1 ip, 17 er) with 19 walks and 19 strikeouts in 27 appearances with Memphis (AAA, Pacific Coast League), Miller 3-8, 3.81 (99.1 ip, 42 er) with 36 walks and 87 strikeouts in 32 appearances (15 starts) with Rochester, Venafro was 0-0, 2.45 (22.0 ip, 6 er) with eight walks and 18 strikeouts in 36 appearances with Louisville (International League), 3-1, 2.20 (16.1 ip, 4 er) with five walks and 10 strikeouts in 20 appearances with Colorado Spring (AAA, Pacific Coast League), and 1-0, 2.45 (3.2 ip, 1 er) with three walks and two strikeouts in seven appearances with Colorado, Crawford was 6-5, 3.66 (98.1 ip, 40 er) with 33 walks and 97 strikeouts in 46 games (two starts) with New Britain, Cummings was 8-6, 3.97 (138.1 ip, 61 er) with 49 walks and 102 strikeouts in 25 starts with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA, International League), and Slowey was 4-2, 1.01 (89.1 ip, 10 er) with 9 walks and 99 strikeouts in 14 starts with Ft. Myers and 4-3, 3.19 (59.1 ip, 21 er) with 13 walks and 52 strikeouts in nine starts with New Britain last season.

In addition, the following members of the Twins organization will join the Major League staff during Spring Training: Tom Kelly, Tony Oliva, Phil Roof and Terry Steinbach, as well as National Baseball Hall of Famers Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew and Paul Molitor.

Twins' pitchers and catchers report to spring training in Fort Myers, Florida Sunday, February 18 with workouts beginning February 19, while the balance of the squad reports on Friday, February 23 with the first full-squad workout taking place Saturday, February 24. The Twins annual photo day will be held Monday, February 26 at 8:00 am.

The Twins, who have a 32-game Grapefruit League exhibition schedule, will open their spring home season on Friday, March 2 vs. the Cincinnati Reds at 7:05 pm (EST). For more information on individual tickets to Twins Spring Training home games, call 33-TWINS or 1-800-33-TWINS or by visiting the Twins website at www.twinsbaseball.com.