FORT MYERS, Fla. – Jorge Polanco vividly recalls his first game in the major leagues. He arrived at Angels Stadium in the fourth inning of a game in Anaheim and was sent up as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning. He took four straight balls from Ernesto Frieri, jogged to first base, and soon raced around to score on a bases-loaded double by Joe Mauer.
It's appropriate that it was Mauer, because that day in 2014, Polanco became the first Twins player since Mauer to make his major league debut before his 21st birthday. And now Polanco has another link to Mauer in mind: Emulating No. 7's longevity in Minnesota.
"It makes me feel good to think about. Watching a great player like Joe Mauer playing with the Twins for that long, it makes you proud," Polanco said.
His comfort level is obvious, in his demeanor and in his game. Polanco blossomed into an All-Star shortstop last year, leading the Twins in runs, hits, doubles, triples and walks, and more than repaid the confidence the Twins showed in him by agreeing to a $25.75 million contract last February. He also began to shed his bashfulness, and this spring regularly chats up teammates as he heads to his locker in the far corner, showing off a mastery of English that he resolved last year to acquire.
He hasn't played yet this spring as he recovers from November surgery to relieve a nagging repetitive-stress pain in his right ankle. However, Polanco, who is scheduled to start as designated hitter Sunday, expects this season to be even better than the last.
"He has a lot of belief in himself, and we have a ton of belief in him," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "He's established himself in this league."
Said Polanco: "I do take pride in that. I try to talk to everybody in [the Twins clubhouse]. I don't want anyone to see me as a veteran. I like them to see me as a guy they can talk to."
Yet in a clubhouse with Nelson Cruz, Josh Donaldson and Sergio Romo, Polanco actually is a veteran, of a sort. Polanco's debut with the Twins came on June 26, 2014 — earlier than any other player on the roster. With Kyle Gibson departed, and Trevor May's arrival coming six weeks later than his, Polanco is now the senior Twin, a distinction that he finds a little ridiculous — but also plenty satisfying.