A month ago, I wrote about the new jersey numbers among the Twins’ roster. Now that the team’s spring training roster is finalize, why not do it again? After all, there have been several signings, both major- and minor-league, and other roster changes.
I won’t spend as many words on numbers for individual players this time, just highlighting ones I find interesting and going over general trends and changes.
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Here goes. (All players in italics are non-roster invitees to major league camp.)
Starting Pitchers
17 Bailey Ober
20 Mick Abel
24 Simeon Woods Richardson
26 Taj Bradley
41 Joe Ryan
49 Pablo López
52 Zebby Matthews
58 David Festa
60 Kendry Rojas
61 Connor Prielipp
71 John Klein
74 Trent Baker
78 Andrew Morris
81 Cory Lewis
82 Christian MacLeod
85 Marco Raya
(López tearing an elbow ligament yesterday already throws the projected rotation into question, but that has been discussed elsewhere.)
Unsurprisingly, players at the back of the roster have been largely assigned higher numbers as seems to be baseball tradition. I know many are projecting Prielipp to move to the bullpen, but I left him here just for the sake of the list. Interestingly, the three 80s numbers on this list have been worn by Twins: Jordan Balazovic wore 81, Ober and Austin Martin started their careers in 82, and Charlie Barnes and Jair Camargo wore 85.
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Relief Pitchers
19 Eric Orze
31 Liam Hendriks
39 Andrew Chafin
43 Anthony Banda
44 Cole Sands
45 Travis Adams
47 Julian Merryweather
48 Justin Topa
51 Matt Bowman
53 Dan Altavilla
55 Taylor Rogers
57 Kody Funderburk
59 Grant Hartwig
65 Cody Laweryson
93 Andrew Bash
94 Raul Brito
Also unsurprisingly, major league veterans invited to camp don’t get assigned high spring training numbers. Hendriks, who debuted as a starter for the Twins wearing #62 before becoming a top-level closer, will wear his regular #31 because he is the 31st Australian to play in the majors. Chafin takes #39 for the fourth time (he’s worn it with the Cubs, A’s, and Angels), Banda has claimed the #43 he wore for the past two seasons (and earlier in Toronto) from James Outman, and Rogers (as mentioned in last month’s article) got his old #55 back from Funderburk. Laweryson debuted last year in #66; that number now belongs to field coordinator Toby Gardenhire.
Catchers
27 Ryan Jeffers
37 Victor Caratini
70 Alex Jackson
73 Patrick Winkel
77 Noah Cardenas
83 Ricardo Olivar
90 Andrew Cossetti
92 David Bañuelos
Except for his debut, Caratini has worn #7 or #17 for his entire career. However, #7 is retired in Minnesota for Joe Mauer and #17 belongs to Bailey Ober, so he gets the next available number up (Jeffers has #27) ending in 7. Oh, and he debuted in 2017. (Additionally, Jackson had #64 last month but has switched to #70, which he wore for his debut with Atlanta and as an Oriole last year.)
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Infielders
2 Kody Clemens
4 Tristan Gray
11 Orlando Arcia
12 Gio Urshela
13 Eric Wagaman
15 Luke Keaschall
22 Brooks Lee
23 Royce Lewis
56 Josh Bell
76 Kaelen Culpepper
86 Aaron Sabato
89 Tanner Schobel
Arcia’s most common numbers have been 3 and 11; 3 is retired for Harmon Killebrew, so it’s no surprised he’s claimed #11. Urshela has never before worn #12, but the #15 he wore as a Twin in 2022 is taken by Keaschall.
Outfielders
5 Ryan Kreidler
9 Trevor Larnach
16 Austin Martin
18 Alan Roden
25 Byron Buxton
30 James Outman
33 Emmanuel Rodriguez
38 Matt Wallner
64 Hendry Mendez
72 Gabriel Gonzalez
75 Walker Jenkins
80 Kyler Fedko
87 Kala’i Rosario
As mentioned above, Outman switched away from last year’s #43 to accommodate Banda; he now wears #30. His old #33 now belongs to Emmanuel Rodriguez, who has switched off of #32 because…
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Coaches
0 Grady Sizemore (1BC)
8 Derek Shelton (MGR)
32 LaTroy Hawkins (BPN)
46 Ramon Borrego (3BC)
63 Mike Rabelo (ABEN)
66 Toby Gardenhire (MLFC)
67 Trevor Amicone (AHIT)
68 Mark Hallberg (BEN)
79 Rayden Sierra (AHIT)
84 Keith Beauregard (HIT)
88 Pete Maki (PIT)
91 Luis Ramirez (APIT/INT)
97 Anderson De La Rosa (BPNC)
98 Frank Nigro (BPNC)
…LaTroy got his number back!
So if you’re watching or attending the games, and you see someone you don’t recognize with an unfamiliar number, now you know who they are. (Until the roster inevitably shuffles again.)
Read the full article here
