Harry Rice (1901)
Dick Bartell (1907)
Fred Bankhead (1912)
Lew Burdette (1926)
Wade Blasingame (1943)
Rich Chiles (1946)
Greg Luzinski (1950)
Lyman Bostock (1950)
Wayne Tolleson (1955)
Lee Guetterman (1958)
Mike Benjamin (1965)
Jay Payton (1972)
Ricky Ledee (1973)
Joe Nathan (1974)
Jonny Gomes (1980)
Yusmeiro Petit (1984)
Adam Ottovino (1985)
Drew Pomeranz (1988)
Austin Romine (1988)
Griffin Jax (1994)
Mike Benjamin was drafted by Minnesota in the seventh round in January, 1985, but did not sign.
Outfielder/DH Richard Francis Chiles came to the Twins at the end of a career that covered parts of six seasons. A cousin of Hall of Famer George “High Pockets” Kelly, he was born in Sacramento, went to high school in Winters, California and was drafted by Houston in the second round in 1968. Chiles had a few fairly good years in the Astros' system. In 1970, he hit .304 with 11 triples for AAA Oklahoma City. On the strength of that, Chiles was in the majors in 1971. He was seldom used and did not have a particularly good season, hitting .227 in only 119 at-bats, although he did have 11 pinch-hits. Chiles was back in the minors in 1972, getting only a September call-up in the big leagues. That offseason, he was traded to the Mets. 1973 was another year of AAA with the exception of two weeks in April. The Mets released Chiles in April of 1974, and he was out of baseball for over a month until San Diego signed him. He did nothing particularly exceptional at AAA for the Padres, was released again in March of 1975, and was out of baseball that season. The Astros signed him for 1976, and things got better, as Chiles hit .302 in AAA Memphis. Left unprotected, the Twins signed Chiles in the Rule 5 draft, and kept him for two years. He was primarily a DH in 1977 and a left fielder in 1978, although he never got as many as 300 at-bats either season. As a Twin, Chiles hit .266/.328/.357 in 459 at-bats. The Twins released Chiles in February of 1979. He was in AAA in the Cleveland organization in 1979, and in the Pittsburgh organization in 1980, but never made it back to the major leagues. Since his retirement as a player, Rich Chiles did some scouting and also has operated youth baseball clinics in California; one of the youth who attended was Dustin Pedroia. At last report, Rich Chiles was living in Yolo County, California.
Outfielder Lyman Bostock got off to a tremendous start in his career, only to have that career cut tragically short. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, his father, Lyman Bostock Sr., was a star in the Negro Leagues. The elder Bostock left when Lyman was four, and the family relocated to Gary, Indiana. The family moved to Los Angeles four years later. Bostock went to high school in Los Angeles and then attended college at Cal State-Northridge. He did not play baseball his first two years in college. He was drafted by the Twins in the 26th round in 1972. Bostock came through the minors quickly, not hitting for much power but posting high batting averages with a good number of walks. In parts of four minor league seasons, Bostock averaged .326 with an OBP of .389. He started1975 in Minnesota, but after a slow start was sent back to AAA for a couple of months. Brought back in late June, he continued to struggle for a few weeks, but caught fire in mid-July, raising his average from .191 on July 11 to .282 by the end of the year. He hit .323 in 1976 and .336 in 1977, adding 14 homers and 12 triples and finishing 27th in MVP voting. Bostock became a free agent after the 1977 season and signed with California. He started very slowly, possibly as a result of putting pressure on himself due to his free agent contract. Bostock donated his first month's salary to charity, because he did not believe he had earned it. He was still hitting only .209 at the end of May, but had raised that to .296 by September 23. The Angels were playing Chicago that day; Bostock traveled to Gary, Indiana to visit his uncle. While there, Bostock went to visit a childhood friend. He was shot by the estranged husband of the friend's sister, who apparently mistook him for the estranged wife's boyfriend. Taken to a hospital, Lyman Bostock passed away two hours later. We will obviously never know what he might have done, but in his major league career, he hit .311/.365/.427. As a Twin, he hit .318/.366/.446. Lyman Bostock died at the age of 27.
Right-hander Joseph Michael Nathan pitched for the Twins from 2004-2009 and again in 2011. He was born in Houston. He attended Pine Bush High School in Circleville, New York. He then went to Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York, and is the only major league player the school has ever produced. He was drafted by the Giants in the fifth round in 1995. Originally a shortstop, Nathan hit .232 at Class A Bellingham that year. The Giants then decided to convert him to pitching, but Nathan refused and did not play in 1996, choosing instead to go back to college and get his degree. He returned to baseball as a pitcher in 1997, and by 1999 was in the big leagues with the Giants. Nathan was in San Francisco most of the next two seasons, mostly as a starter, and was not particularly impressive. Sent back to the minors for 2001 and 2002, he continued to struggle, although he still got a September call-up the latter season. Nathan was converted to relief pitching in 2003, and the results were immediate. Used mostly as a set-up man, he posted an ERA of 2.96 and a WHIP of 1.06 in 78 appearances. In November, he was traded to the Twins with Boof Bonser and Francisco Liriano for A. J. Pierzynski. He immediately became the Twins' closer, a role he filled for six years. He had 246 saves in those six years, with an ERA of 1.87, a WHIP of 0.93, and an ERA+ of 236. He made the all-star team four of those six years, received MVP consideration twice, and twice finished in the top five in Cy Young balloting. Nathan missed all of 2010 with a torn ulnar collateral ligament. He struggled in the first part of 2011 and gave up the closer role, but reclaimed it after the All-star break. He pitched better over the second half of the season, although not well enough for the Twins to pick up his option. A free agent, he signed with Texas in 2012 and had a couple of fine seasons, making the all-star team in both years. Again a free agent after the 2013 season, he signed with Detroit. It did not go well for him, as he had the worst season of his career. He was injured for nearly all of 2015, appearing in one game for the Tigers and one game for AAA Toledo. He signed with the Cubs in May 2016 and played in three games in July, picking up a win and posting a 0.00 ERA in two innings. The Cubs released him in August and he finished the season with San Francisco, getting another win and again posting a 0.00 ERA, this time in 4.1 innings (7 games). He signed with Washington for 2017 and was in AAA for a couple of months, but didn't get much accomplished and was released. He signed a contract with the Twins in September so that he could retire as a Twin, which I guess is nice if that means something to him. As a Twin, he was 24-13, 2.16, 0.96 WHIP, 260 saves. For his career he was 64-34, 2.87, 1.12 WHIP, 377 saves. He was inducted into the Twins' Hall of Fame in 2019. At last report, he was living in Knoxville, Tennessee and was coaching his son's baseball team. At one time he had expressed an interest in returning to organized baseball in some capacity if the right opportunity should arise, but I don't know if that interest still exists.
Right-hander James Griffin Jax has pitched for the Twins since 2021. He was born in Phoenix, attended high school in Greenwood Village, Colorado, attended the Air Force Academy, and was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 2016. He missed most of 2017 due to injury, was in Class A in 2018, and had a strong season in AA in 2019, also making three starts in AAA that season. He did not pitch in 2020, but did well in eight AAA starts in 2021 and was promoted to the Twins in June and joined the rotation in late July. He did well at times--he had five starts with a game score over fifty, and two with a game score over sixty--but at the end of the season he was 4-5, 6.37, although with a 1.35 WHIP. Moved to the bullpen for 2022, he responded with three very good seasons, the best of which was 2024. As a Twin, he is 22-24, 3.99, 1.12 WHIP with 306 strikeouts in 290.2 innings. As a reliever, he is 19-19, 15 saves, 3.33, 1.06 WHIP with 252 strikeouts in 221.1 innings. He turns thirty today, so he's older than one might think. There has been talk of moving him back to starting, but from where we sit, it seems that it would be best to leave well enough alone.