Heinie Wagner (1880)
Lefty Stewart (1900)
Jim Rooker (1942)
Woody Woodward (1942)
Dennis Lamp (1952)
Jim Morrison (1952)
Tony Fossas (1957)
Jim Winn (1959)
Pete Harnisch (1966)
Jeff Cirillo (1969)
Brent Abernathy (1977)
Mike Gosling (1980)
Matt Kemp (1984)
Joba Chamberlain (1985)
Trevor May (1989)
Left-hander Tony Fossas was drafted by the Twins in the ninth round in 1978, but did not sign.
Right-hander James Francis Winn made nine appearances for the Twins in 1988. He was born in Stockton, California, attended John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas (the only major leaguer ever to come from that school), and was drafted by Pittsburgh in the first round of the 1981. He did not have eye-popping numbers in the low minors, and struggled with injuries most of his career, never logging as many as 70 innings in a minor-league season. Winn made the Pirates in 1983 on the strength of an excellent spring training. He did not last long that year, pitching only eleven innings before being sent to AAA Hawaii. He became a relief pitcher in 1983, and did well then and in 1984 in Hawaii, getting another brief callup with Pittsburgh in the latter season. Winn was with the Pirates almost all of 1985 and all of 1986, with fair-to-middling results. He was traded to the White Sox just before the 1987 season and spent all year in Chicago, pitching similarly for them. Released by the White Sox near the end of 1988 spring training, he was signed by the Twins and sent to AAA Portland, where he pitched well enough to get called up to Minnesota. Winn pitched in nine games for the Twins that year, mostly in mop-up relief. He was 1-0 that year, but with an ERA of 6.00 and a WHIP of 2.05 in 21 innings. If he was left-handed, he probably would have gotten another chance somewhere, but he was a righty, and his playing career was over after 1988. At last report, Jim Winn was working in sales for Conco Companies in the Springfield, Missouri area.
Third baseman Jeffrey Howard Cirillo played for the Twins for about four months in 2007. He was born in Pasadena, California, went to high school in Burbank, California, went to USC, and was drafted by Milwaukee in the 11th round in 1991. He hit well at every stop in the minors, made his major league debut in 1994, and was in the big leagues to stay as of 1995. Cirillo was with the Brewers through 1999. He made the all-star team, batted over .320 three times, and hit double-digit home runs four times in that period. In December of 1999, Cirillo was traded to Colorado in a three-team trade that also involved Oakland. He continued to hit well, averaging .320 in two years with the Rockies and hitting 28 home runs. Traded to Seattle in December of 2001, Cirillo went into a decline. He batted only .234 with 8 homers in two years with the Mariners, had an injury-plagued season in 2004 with San Diego, and it appeared that his career might be coming to an end. Given a last chance back with Milwaukee. however, Cirillo rebounded. He averaged over .300 as a part-time player for the Brewers in 2005-06. Signed by the Twins as a free agent in 2007, he batted .261/.327/.386 in 153 at-bats with two home runs. Cirillo was placed on waivers in August, and was selected by the Diamondbacks, where he finished his career. A good defender, he is tied for the major league record in consecutive errorless games at third base with 99. He did some television for the Brewers in 2008, and at last report was a scout for the Angels as well as coaching at Bellevue High School in Washington. He is also part-owner of the Walla Walla Sweets and the Yakima Valley Pippens, teams which plays in the West Coast League, a summer collegiate wood bat league. He was going to manage the Sweets in 2020, but the League season was cancelled. He was going to manage them in 2021, but stepped aside to take care of his wife, who was very seriously injured in an auto accident. His son, Connor, was an infielder at USC.
Second baseman Michael Brent Abernathy played in twenty-four games for the Twins in 2005. Born and raised in Atlanta, he was drafted by Toronto in the second round in 1986. He was a high-average hitter with decent doubles power in the minors, although he did hit 13 homers for AA Knoxville in 1999. In July of 2000, Abernathy was traded to Tampa Bay for Mark Guthrie and Steve Trachsel. He played in the 2000 Olympics. Abernathy came up to the Devil Rays in late June of 2001 and was the regular second baseman most of the rest of the year. He was the regular again in 2002, but hit only .242. In April of 2003, Abernathy was placed on waivers and chosen by Kansas City. He spent the rest of his career bouncing from one team to another, coming to the Twins in 2005 after stints with the Detroit and Cleveland organizations. He batted .326 in Rochester that year, but only .239 in 67 at-bats with the Twins, with one home run and six RBIs. That was to be Abernathy’s last shot at the big leagues. After the 2005 season, he logged time in the Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Washington organizations, and also played for the Long Island Ducks in 2008. Abernathy always hit for a good average in the minors, but was never able to translate that into major league success. Brent Abernathy did some coaching with USA baseball as well as some high school teams. At last report, he was the owner of Family First Life in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He also was a managing partner for Integrity Marketing Group in Fort Walton Beach.
Left-hander Michael Frederick Gosling never actually played with the Twins, but was in their minor league system for two months in 2009. He was born in Madison, Wisconsin and went to high school in Salt Lake City, where he once struck out six batters in an inning (two passed balls and a throwing error on a dropped third strike). He was drafted by the Twins in the fourteenth round in 1998, but went to Stanford instead. He was then drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the second round in 2001. Gosling pitched well for AA El Paso in 2002. He did not pitch so well for AAA Tucson, posting ERAs above 5.5 in three consecutive seasons, 2003-05. He suffered a torn labrum and torn rotator cuff in 2003. He was given chances in the big leagues in 2004-05 and actually did a little better there than in the minors, although not enough better to indicate any substantive improvement. The Reds picked him up on waivers in February of 2006. Gosling seemed to finally take a moderate step forward in 2007, as he had a good year at AAA Louisville. It did not result in success in the majors, however: in 23 games and 33 innings with Cincinnati, he posted a 4.91 ERA and a WHIP of 2.12. Gosling was placed on waivers again after the 2007 season, and was selected by Toronto. He had a decent year at AAA Syracuse in 2008, but was not called up to the majors. Allowed to become a free agent, he was signed by the Twins in January of 2009 and sent to AAA Rochester, where he vultured seven wins despite not pitching all that well. Part way into the season, Gosling exercised an out clause in his contract and was given his release. He then signed with Cleveland. The Indians sent him to AAA Columbus, where he continued to not pitch very well. Despite that, he spent about two months in the majors, pitching 25 innings with no record, a 5.04 ERA, and a 1.64 WHIP. He returned to Columbus at the start of the 2010 season and pitched well, posting an ERA of 2.96 in 27.1 innings, but apparently saw the writing on the wall and retired on May 17. After his baseball career ended, Mike Gosling entered law school and at last report was an attorney with Jones Day in Encintas, California.
Right-hander Trevor Joseph May pitched for the Twins from 2014-2020. He was born in Longview, Washington, went to high school in Kelso, Washington, and was drafted by Philadelphia in the fourth round in 2008. He did well in low A in 2009 and continued to do well there in 2010, went to high A for half of 2010 and all of 2011, and reached AA in 2012. He struck out a lot of batters everywhere he went, but he had a poor year overall in AA at age 22 and was traded to Minnesota after the season along with Vance Worley for Ben Revere. He didn't do all that well in New Britain in 2013, but when promoted to Rochester in 2014 he got much better, going 8-6, 2.84, 1.16 WHIP. One of the things that has improved is his control, going from 4.7 walks per nine innings in 2012 to 4.0 in 2013 to 3.6 in Rochester in 2014. His strikeouts went down some but were at a high rate of 8.6 per nine innings in Rochester. He was promoted to Minnesota in early August of 2014, and to say that it did not go well would be an understatement. He started 2015 in the Twins rotation but even though he didn't pitch badly there he was moved to the bullpen in early July. He pitched very well there and was a valuable contributor to the Twins' run at a playoff spot. Promised a chance to start in the off-season, he made three starts in spring training and was then sent to the bullpen. He had a poor year there, probably because he was pitching with a broken bone in his back. He was told to prepare to be a starter again in the 2016-17 off-season, but he missed the entire 2017 season with a torn ligament in his arm. He came back in late July of 2018 and pitched pretty well in relief, convincing the Twins the bullpen was where he belonged. He was very good in 2019 and still pretty good, though not quite as good, in 2020. He struck out more and walked fewer, but gave up more hits and especially more home runs. He became a free agent after the 2020 season and signed with the Mets. He had a solid season in 2021 but has struggled in 2022. He turns thirty-three today and will be a free agent after the season. The chances are he'll get a chance with someone, but he's going to need to pitch better than he has this year if he's going to be an important part of anyone's bullpen.