The spring training invite list includes three catchers: Drew Butera, who was acquired by the Twins along with Dustin Martin in exchange for Luis Castillo, July 30, 2007, Allan de San Miguel, who was signed as a non-drafted free agent, August 18, 2004 and Eli Whiteside, who was signed as a free agent, November 21, 2007. Butera combined to bat .231 (69-for-299) with 16 doubles, six homers and 26 rbi in 82 games last season for Single-A St. Lucie and Double-A Binghamton, de San Miguel batted .190 (20-for-105) with three doubles, four home runs and 20 rbi in 34 games with Single-A Beloit and .333 (1-for-3) in one game with Single-A Ft. Myers, and Whiteside batted a combined .257 (52-for-202) with eight doubles, four triples, six home runs and 36 rbi in 60 games with Triple-A Norfolk and Double-A Bowie.
Six infielders have been invited to camp: Chris Basak, who was claimed off waivers from the New York Yankees last season, Howie Clark, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent, November 21, 2007, Alejandro Machado, who was selected by the Twins in the 2006 Rule 5 Draft, then signed to a minor league contract, October 20, 2007, Felix Molina, the Twins’ 21st round pick in the June, 2001 First-Year Player Draft, Randy Ruiz, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent, November 16, 2007 and Tommy Watkins, the Twins’ 38th round pick in the 1998 First-Year Player Draft. Basak combined to bat .252 (86-for-341) with 20 doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 42 rbi in 96 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Triple-A Rochester and also appeared in five games with New York (AL) last season; Clark batted .204 (10-for-49) with two doubles and two rbi in 31 games with Toronto and combined to bat .274 (23-for-84) with three doubles, three home runs and 15 rbi in 23 games with Double-A New Hampshire and Triple-A Syracuse; Machado missed the entire 2007 season recovering from surgery on his right shoulder; Molina batted .272 (116-for-426) with 20 doubles, three triples, eight home runs and 45 rbi in 117 games with Double-A New Britain; Ruiz combine to bat .293 (139-for-474) with 29 doubles, three triples, 22 home runs and 80 rbi in 130 games with Double-A Altoona, Double-A Reading, Triple-A Ottawa and Double-A Connecticut; and Watkins batted .272 (95-for-349) with 22 doubles, eight home runs and 49 rbi in 110 games with Rochester and .357 (10-for-28) in nine games with Minnesota.
Jon Knott, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent, November 23, 2007. Knott batted .250 (72-for-288) with 15 doubles, two triples, 13 homers and 34 rbi in 87 games with Norfolk and .214 (3-for-14) with one homer and four rbi in seven games with Baltimore last season, is the only outfielder invited to camp.
Seven pitchers have been invited to camp: lefthanders Ricky Barrett, the Twins’ seventh round pick in the 2002 First-Year Player Draft, Brian Duensing, the Twins’ third round pick in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, Mariano Gomez, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent, November 29, 2007 and Randy Keisler, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent, January 10, 2008. Righthanders Casey Daigle, who was signed by the Twins as a free agent, December 10, 2007, Zach Day, who was signed as a free agent, January 8, 2007 and Armando Gabino, who was obtained by the Twins in the minor league Rule 5 Draft, December 13, 2004. Barrett was 5-1, 3.42 (47.1 ip, 18 er) with one save, 26 walks and 49 strikeouts in 27 appearances with Rochester last season; Duensing was 4-1, 2.66 (50.2 ip, 15 er) with seven walks and 38 strikeouts in nine starts with New Britain and 11-5, 3.24 (116.2 ip, 42 er) with 30 walks and 86 strikeouts in 19 starts with Rochester; Gomez was 3-3, 4.05 (66.2 ip, 30 er) with two saves, 24 walks and 53 strikeouts in 48 appearances (one start) with Double-A Akron; Keisler was 8-11, 4.79 (156.0 ip, 83 er) with 51 walks and 102 strikeouts with Triple-A Memphis and 0-0, 5.19 (17.1 ip, 10 er) with five walks and five strikeouts in four appearances (three starts) with St. Louis last season; Daigle was 10-5, 6.59 (109.1 ip, 80 er) with 31 walks and 95 strikeouts in 42 appearances (16 starts) with Triple-A Tucson; Day was 1-1, 3.93 (36.2 ip, 16 er) with 26 walks and 11 strikeouts in 11 appearances (nine starts) with Triple-A Omaha; and Gabino was 1-0, 0.82 (22.0 ip, 2 er) with four walks and 16 strikeouts in 12 appearances with Beloit, 2-2, 3.16 (37.0 ip, 13 er) with four saves, 15 walks and 25 strikeouts with Ft. Myers and 2-0, 0.00 (16.0 ip, 0 er) with four saves, eight walks and 14 strikeouts in 10 games with New Britain.
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.