Neal: Tyler Duffey, Taylor Rogers have grown up, grown close in Twins organization

FORT MYERS, FLA. – Tyler Duffey looked around the clubhouse at Hammond Stadium on Saturday morning, noting the players who remained from his first year as a professional, including one of his best friends in baseball, Taylor Rogers.

Right across from his stall was one belonging to Byron Buxton, part of Duffey's draft class, as well as those of Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler. All were teammates at Elizabethton, Tenn., for Duffey's first professional season in 2012.

"There's three guys I played with after I got drafted on the other side of the locker room," Duffey said. "And there's five of us who have spent at least a minute together at every level. There's something really, really cool about that."

But he only had to look to his immediate left and see Rogers.

Some stalls in a major league clubhouse are reserved for players with more status. At Hammond Stadium, the four corner stalls carry such distinction. Those currently are used by Miguel Sano, Gary Sanchez, Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda. But so do the ones near the entrances to the managers and coaches rooms. Rogers and Caleb Thielbar have those but Duffey is right next to Rogers.

The pair experienced ups and downs during their developmental stages of their careers, followed by the highs and lows of playing in the majors. They are now in their 10th spring training together — quite an achievement in the free agency era — and part of the Twins' late-inning relief corps.

It was shortly after they met as teammates in E-Town that they became roommates during spring training in Fort Myers, a practice that continues today despite the presence of Duffey's family. The Duffeys can go run errands or spend time together and Rogers watches their son, Teddy, who is about to turn 2. Instead of "Nanny," they call Rogers the "Manny."

"We've got a good thing going here. It's basically tradition at this point so we're still doing it. You know, we're splitting a place down here right now and you know, I'm Uncle Rog to his son Teddy and it's pretty cool."

Both were drafted as starters out of college but have thrived out of the bullpen. Duffey, a righthander, has posted a 2.69 ERA over the past three seasons but saw his strikeout rate dip from 11.6 per nine innings on 2020 to 8.8 last season. Rogers, a lefthander, saved 30 games in 2019 before struggling in 2020 and losing his closing role but recovering last season to be named to the American League All-Star team.

Duffey's fastball can reach the mid-90s at times, but he has always had a good curveball. Rogers' fastball was a career-high 95.8 miles per hour last season to go with a wicked slider. Both Duffey and Rogers are 31 and are at the point where the combination of talent and experience should vex opposing hitters.

"They have been tremendous security for this team, for me, making decisions with our bullpen," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "They've been tremendous contributors to everything, all the success that that has gone on here for a long time."

They also have upgraded from that one-bedroom place to stay to a home in a trendy gated community not far from the ballpark.