We had three Twins players make their big league debut in a Twins uniform on June 7.
Glenn Williams (3B) – June 7, 2005 – Signed as a Free Agent with the Minnesota Twins on December 14, 2004. This Aussie was originally signed in 1993 for a signing bonus of $925,000 by Atlanta. His career batting average in the big leagues is .425 but no one talks about him. The reason is that his big league career was cut short by a shoulder injury after just 13 games, all with Minnesota and Williams had a hit in every one of those games.
Micheal Nakamura (P) – June 7, 2003 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent on December 24, 1997. The dual-citizen (Australia & Japan) Nakamura had a nice big league debut at Qualcomm Stadium in a Twins 6-2 win over the Padres when he pitched 1.1 innings allowing one hit, no runs and striking out two.
Juan Rincon (P) – June 7, 2001 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent on November 4, 1996. Slick big league debut with an inning pitched and two strikeouts with no hits or walks allowed. albeit in a 6-2 loss to the Indians at the Dome.
How odd is it that both Glenn Williams and Micheal Nakamura who both debuted in the big leagues on June 7 (albeit two years apart) are both in the Baseball Australia Hall of Fame?
I remember Glenn Williams. I was pretty excited about him, as he had just spent the first part of the 2005 season mutilating AAA pitching. He seemed like a potential solution at 3B, maybe for a few years (Cuddyer was slowly showing that he did not belong there).
Injuries suck.
As Bud Grant always said, ability is great but durability is the most important.