Wes Carroll has read the blogs and seen the skepticism: The Twins are turning their shortstop job over to that little guy?
That little guy is his older brother, Jamey Carroll, a journeyman infielder who turns 38 next month and hasn't hit a home run since 2009.
"It's amazing," Wes said in a phone interview this weekend. "Everywhere he's gone, if you read the papers and the message boards, they're talking about his weaknesses. And by the time he leaves, they're all talking about his strengths."
Wes, 33, might be biased, but he knows his baseball. He was a minor league infielder for five years, peaking at Class AAA, and is now the coach at the University of Evansville. The oldest Carroll sibling, 39-year-old Jason, was an offensive lineman for two years at Indiana University.
"Our oldest brother is a monster, and I was bigger and pretty athletic," Wes said. "Jamey was kind of the runt of the family, and he's the one who's done the most. What he's been able to accomplish at 5-9, 170 pounds soaking wet -- it's an unbelievable story."
It starts in Evansville, Ind., the hometown of Bob Griese, Don Mattingly and Larry Carroll, who worked the midnight shift at an Alcoa aluminum plant so he wouldn't miss any game one of his three boys played.
Jamey Carroll was an All-America shortstop for Evansville University in 1996. He faced decent competition in the Missouri Valley Conference but wasn't drafted until the 14th round by the Montreal Expos and didn't reach the majors until 2002, at age 28.
"He's always been a great fielder, always had an accurate arm, always been a great teammate," said Twins pitcher Carl Pavano, who was with Montreal from 1998 to 2002 and teamed with Carroll again in 2009 for Cleveland. "What separates him now is his experience."