This 2019 Twins season has been a joy in so many ways — among them being that it has erased much of the sour taste from all the bad baseball played at Target Field for the better part of this decade.
But at the same time, 2019 has stubbornly refused to let us forget those largely bad Twins teams (five 90-loss seasons in six years). That's because a LOT of players from those teams are doing quite well this season — many in unpredictable fashion.
I couldn't quite fill out an entire lineup, but I did come up with a dozen players who were on the Twins sometime between 2011 and 2016 who are contributing somewhere between "All-Star" and "meaningful" levels this season for their current teams. They are listed below in order of some combination of achievement and surprise. All stats through Monday's games.
1) Danny Santana (2014-17 Twins; 2019 Rangers): Santana had a breakout rookie year, hitting .319 with a .472 slugging percentage for the Twins in 2014 and looked like a mainstay. For the next four years, he compiled a .575 OPS for the Twins and Braves. His next stop seemed to be out of baseball. UNTIL: 2019 with the Rangers, when Santana suddenly has 17 homers and a .938 slugging percentage. An OPS-plus of 130 as a rookie and 132 this year, and never higher than 64 any other year. Amazing.
2) Liam Hendriks (2011-13 Twins; 2019 A's): Hendriks gave up a ton of hits and home runs, didn't strike many batters out and generally disappointed as a starter from 2011-13. He's been between serviceable and good out of bullpens since 2015, but in 2019 he is an All-Star with the A's — where he has a 1.64 ERA and 80 Ks in 60.1 innings.
3) Eduardo Escobar (2012-18 Twins; 2019 Diamondbacks): Escobar, one of the most popular Twins players in recent memory, turned himself from a useful player into a very good hitter somewhere around the middle of 2017. So it's not stunning to see what he's done in Arizona. But still: The man leads all of baseball with 89 runs-batted-in and has a 3.3 WAR. I did not see that coming.
4) Ryan Pressly (2013-18 Twins; 2019 Astros): He was a good reliever with the Twins. He's become virtually unhittable with the Astros and made the All-Star team to prove it.
5) Kurt Suzuki (2014-16 Twins; 2019 Nationals): Suzuki posted a .680 OPS in three seasons as the Twins' catcher, turning 33 right as that final year ended. Put him out to pasture? Nah. Suzuki has an .813 OPS since then, hitting 42 home runs in 828 at bats.