After 11 years of minor-league toil, Twins call Maggi up to majors

TORONTO — The Twins obviously had an inkling that Rob Refsnyder was nursing an elbow injury as they departed for Canada. They brought another utility player along, and on Saturday they activated him.

What's unusual about that? It's the moment that Drew Maggi has waited 11 years for.

"It means everything to me," said Maggi, who was first drafted in 2008, signed in 2010, and who spent four seasons in Class AA, four seasons in AAA, and one season at the Twins' alternate site during COVID. "Just 11 years of hard work and a lot of ups and downs through my personal life and baseball. There have been so many people who have kept me going because [over] 11 years, I thought my career was over 20 times."

Instead, the 32-year-old infielder will sit on the Twins' bench today, hoping manager Rocco Baldelli calls his number — which is 89, by the way.

Refsnyder was placed on the 10-day injured list, and Taylor Rogers was transferred to the 60-day injured list to make room for the older-than-normal rookie.

Maggi will watch Bailey Ober try to extend his streak of 10 straight games without allowing more than three earned runs, and for the Twins to build upon their homer-heavy victory last night. Here are the lineups for today's 2:10 p.m. game:

TWINS

Buxton CF

Polanco 2B

Donaldson 3B

Sanó DH

Rooker LF

Kepler RF

Jeffers C

Astudillo 1B

Gordon SS

—

Ober RHP

==

BLUE JAYS

Springer DH

Semien 2B

Guerrero Jr. 1B

Bichette SS

Hernández RH

Guirrel Jr.

Valera 3B

Grichuk CF

McGuire C

—

Matz LHP