Former Twins outfielder Brant Alyea dies at 83

Brant Alyea was born in Passiac, New Jersey on December 8, 1940 and passed away at the age of 83 in his Pennsylvania home on February 4, 2024. Alyea was a very athletic student lettering in three sports at Rutherford High School, playing quarterback for the Bulldogs and starring in basketball and baseball. 

According to his SABR Bio, after graduating from high school Alyea accepted a scholarship to Hofstra College in Hempstead, New York, a seemingly perfect fit as the small Long Island institution was established on a campus bequeathed by a Dutch lumber magnate, William Hofstra, in the 1930s, and their athletic teams were known as the Flying Dutchmen. More significantly, Hofstra would give Alyea the opportunity to play basketball as well as baseball. The basketball team was then coached by another Dutchman originally from New Jersey, Butch van Breda Kolff. Alyea and the Dutchmen enjoyed significant basketball success in the NCAA College Division. In the 1959-60 season, they finished 23-1, losing only to Wagner College of Staten Island by two points in January, but that loss cost them the conference title and they were not selected for postseason play. The next year, Alyea led the Dutchmen in scoring and rebounding, and Hofstra was selected for the small-college tournament, in which the team was eliminated by Albright College.

But it was Alyea’s baseball skills, particularly his power that attracted baseball scouts and eventually led to his signing with the Cincinnati Reds in the Spring of 1962. The Reds assigned their 6’5″ prospect to Geneva (New York) of the Class D New York-Penn League, and he clubbed 32 home runs while hitting .319 in just 105 games. Those healthy numbers made Alyea a prime target in the Rule 5 draft, which at that time covered all first-year players who had not been placed on the 40-man roster, and Alyea was snatched up by the Washington Senators.

Mudcat Grant didn’t put up with racial bigotry

Jim “Mudcat” Grant

Jim Grant was generally considered an easy going likable person, but as the 1960 season drew to a close, his refusal to tolerate bigotry, more than a decade after Jackie Robinson had reintegrated the major leagues, had costly consequences as written about in the September, 28 1960 issue of The Sporting News by Hal Lebovitz who covered the Cleveland Indians for the baseball’s bible at the time.


The Indians held their minor-league camp in Daytona Beach and offered Grant a tryout. It was here that Mudcat became his name. “A guy named Leroy Bartow Irby saw me, decided I was from Mississippi and called me ‘Mudcat,’” recalled Grant. The nickname stuck and Grant came to embrace the name. Jim Grant signed with the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent prior to the 1954 season and started his career in C ball with the Fargo-Moorhead Twins (an omen?) at the age of 18. In his first four minor league seasons from 1954-1957 he started 95 games, pitched 828 innings, had 63 complete games and posted a record of 70-28 earning him a trip to Cleveland in 1958. Grant pitched for the Indians into the 1964 season, then spent 3-1/2 years with the Twins including posting two of Minnesota’s three wins over the Dodgers in losing the 1965 World Series. In the last four years of his major league career he pitched for the Dodgers, Expos, Cardinals, Pirates and A’s, leaving the big leagues after the 1971 season.

After his playing days, Mudcat was a television broadcaster for the Indians, Dodgers and A’s. Grant also wrote a book called The Black Aces: Baseball’s Only African-American Twenty-Game Winners. He has given back to baseball by serving on the board of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, on the Baseball Assistance Team and on the Major League Baseball Alumni Association. Jim Grant passed away on June 11, 2021 in Los Angeles at the age of 85.

Minnesota Twins and the playoffs

The Twins have been playing baseball in Minnesota for 62 seasons and have played 9,803 games, winning 4,867 games and losing 4,936 games for a winning percentage of .496 and have advanced to the playoffs 14 times or 22.6% of the time.

Maybe we should not be that surprised, the Washington Senators who moved from Washington D.C. after the 1960 season and became the Minnesota Twins had a .465 winning percentage. Year after year, the Senators were a laughingly bad team, prompting famed sportswriter Charley Dryden to joke: “Washington: First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League.” The Senators played in Washington for 60 seasons and won 3 pennants (1924, 1925, & 1933) and won one World Series title in 1924. In that regard the Twins it seems are not much better having played for 62 seasons and won 3 pennants (1965, 1987, & 1991) but they have won two World Series titles, in 1987 and again 1991.

A look at Twins Quality Starts over the years

According to WikipediA, in baseball a quality start is a statistic for a starting pitcher defined as a game in which the pitcher completes at least six innings and permits no more than three earned runs. The quality start has effectively replaced the ‘complete game’ as a meaningful measure of a starting pitcher’s performance.

The quality start was developed by sportswriter John Lowe in 1985 while writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Nolan Ryan has used the term “High Quality Start” for games where the pitcher goes seven innings or more and allows three earned runs or fewer, which baseball columnist and formber BBWAA president Derrick Goold referred to as “Quality Start Plus.”

Twins minor league players of the week are Holland & Gossett

The Minnesota Twins have named Double-A Wichita shortstop/outfielder Will Holland and right-handed pitcher Daniel Gossett as their Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

Will Holland was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 5th round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft from Auburn University (Auburn, AL). Holland reportedly signed with the Minnesota Twins, per MLB.com, for a $575,000 signing bonus. That is well above the slotted value of $360,800 for the 149th overall pick. Holland was promoted from Cedar Rapids to Wichita on August 11th.

Holland, a 24 year-old Atlanta, Georgia native, played in six games for the Wind Surge, hitting .316 (6-for-19) with one double, two home runs, eight RBI, six runs scored, five walks, a .458 on-base percentage, a .684 slugging percentage and a 1.143 OPS. Although being used primarily in the outfield, the right-handed hitting Holland still plays some shortstop now and then but has not played that position with Wichita. In just 11 games with Wichita, Holland has a slash line of .333/.488/.697.

Twins Minor League POW are BJ Boyd and Joe Ryan

The Minnesota Twins have selected AA-Wichita Wind Surge outfielder BJ Boyd and AAA-St. Paul Saints pitcher Joe Ryan as their minor league players of the week for week 16.

BJ Boyd was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 4th round of the 2012 MLB June Amateur Draft from Palo Alto HS (Palo Alto, CA). On May 27, 2021 the Twins signed him as a free agent to a minor league deal and assigned him to Wichita. Boyd who turned 28 in July last played pro ball in 2018 at the AAA level in the A’s system.

This past week Boyd, a left-handed hitting outfielder appeared in 7 games and slashed .343/.343/.771 with 5 home runs, 12 RBI and 9 runs scored in 35 AB’s. For the season so far Boyd is hitting .313 with 15 home runs, 60 RBI and 8 steals in 256 AB.

Twins to welcome back fans to Target Field in 2021

The last time that Twins fans were able to watch their home-town team play ball in-person at Target Field was back on October 7, 2019. That was the day their beloved Bomba Squad was sent packing from the American League playoffs when they were swept by the New York Yankees three games to zip in the ALDS. Their starting pitcher that day was Jake Odorizzi. Sergio Romo and Trevor May pitched in relief and the only run they scored in the 5-1 loss was a home run hit by right-fielder Eddie Rosario. When Twins fans sadly filed out of Target Field that day little did they know that they would not be able to watch another game in person at Target Field for another 548 days. It will not be until April 8, 2021 when the Twins host the Seattle Mariners in their Home Opener that Twins fans will again be able to cheer on their Twins. All the players named above will be playing for other teams.

Twins minor league players of the week – Celestino & Chalmers

Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week honors have been announced and Low-A Cedar Rapids outfielder Gilberto Celestino and High-A Ft. Myers right-handed pitcher Dakota Chalmers have been named.

Gilberto Celestino

In five games for the Kernels, Celestino hit .579 (11-for-19) with three doubles, two home runs, five RBI and a 1.689 OPS. The 20-year-old Dominican was acquired by the Twins in July 2018 as part of the Ryan Pressly trade with Houston and is in his fourth season of pro ball. The right-handed hitting Celestino, who currently is rated the Twins number 21 prospect, was promoted to the Ft. Myers Miracle on August 21st. I think this is the third time this year that Celestino has won the Twins POW honor, WOW!

Dakota Chalmers

The right-handed Chalmers made the start on Tuesday versus St. Lucie, surrendering one unearned run in 6 innings allowing three hits, one walk and nine strikeouts. The 22-year-old was acquired by the Twins from Oakland in exchange for Fernando Rodney last August. What I like about Chalmers is that he always seems to give up fewer hits then inning pitched, in 151 career inning pitched he has given up just 105 hits but struck out 178.

Interesting in that both Celestino and Chalmers were acquired in trades. One of the trades, the one in which the Twins traded Pressly still has many Twins fans grumbling because he has been so good for Houston. The Rodney deal? Not so much, no one seems to care or even remember him.

Twins Minor League Report, 8-18-19

 

Couple of things about A’s and Twins

The Oakland A’s team that the Twins are playing are no slouches and are a very good team. The Twins have split the first two games and it will be interesting to see how the final two games go. 

The Oakland A’s are 37-17 (.685) dating back to May 16, which is tied with the Yankees for the best record in the majors over that span. They have a 3.66 ERA (201 er in 493.2 ip), which is second lowest to the Dodgers (3.27). The A’s lead the majors in home runs (104), slugging (.491), and extra base hits (226), are tied for second in runs (321) and are fifth in OPS (.824). The A’s have outscored the opposition 321-215 for a run differential of +106.

Since moving to Oakland in 1968, the A’s are 308-304 against Minnesota, that includes 172-131 in Oakland and 136-173 in Minnesota (19-18 at Target Field). The Athletics are 365-373 all-time against the Twins and have a 1,012-1,009 record against the Twins/Senators. The 1,012 are the A’s most against any franchise.

Tonights starter for the Twins Jose Berrios has thrown his curveball 37.4% of the time (337/900) vs right-handed batters this season, 3rd highest among qualified SPs in MLB; League Average is 15.1%. José Berríos has induced opposing hitters to ground into just 5 double plays in 94 opportunities (5.3%) this season, 6th worst among qualified SPs in MLB, the league average is 10.6%. 

Jim Holt gone at the age of 74

Jim Holt

James William Holt was born on May 27, 1944 in Graham, NC and passed away at the age of 74 on March 29, 2019 in Burlington, NC. The youngest of six children, Jim Holt learned to play baseball in high school and after graduation had tryouts with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians. When these tryouts didn’t attract any pro ball offers and opportunities in Graham pretty much limited to working in a flour or timber mill, Holt decided to join the Army in 1963 and intended to make it a career.