It would be tempting to use the outfield wall in Camden Yards as a metaphor for Rob Refsnyder's career, but that wouldn't quite be right.
Twins outfielder Rob Refsnyder: Far more than a chalk outline
The journeyman became a story this week when he crashed into the wall in Baltimore. But he's also helped the Twins hang on — while reviving his own career.
June 2, 2021 at 5:42PM
The Twins outfielder crashed into it Monday in pursuit of a home run, not heeding whatever warning he got from the track. The clip became a social media sensation, and a fake chalk outline of where Refsnyder crunched the wall only added to the story on Tuesday.
But if the play had gone according to his season so far, Refsnyder would have kept running and made the catch. And indeed, even after the violent collision he stayed in the game and scored the go-ahead run for the Twins in a 3-2 extra-innings victory.
Refsnyder, in an appearance on Wednesday's Daily Delivery podcast, talked about what has been a mostly charmed life with the Twins so far. After short stints with the Yankees, Toronto, Texas and Tampa Bay from 2017-20, Refsnyder has been a savior of sorts for the injury-ravaged Twins.
He entered Wednesday hitting .320 with an .864 OPS and has held down the fort in center field — a position he had never played in the majors — while the Twins wait for reinforcements like Byron Buxton to get healthy.
Refsnyder started the season with Class AAA St. Paul but earned a promotion when the Twins were beset by injuries. He's given the Twins a spark; they've gone 9-5 in games in which he's started, a .643 winning percentage that stands in contrast to the Twins' overall .407 mark.
"Obviously you try to play it cool," he said. "It's nice stepping into a role and playing well, and the team starts winning."
Particularly after the journey to get here. Refsnyder was born in South Korea and was adopted when he was less than a year old. He grew up in Southern California as a Lakers fan and excelled in three sports: basketball, football and baseball. He picked baseball when he narrowed his focus in part because it gave him the best chance, in his estimation, to get a college scholarship.
He parlayed that scholarship at Arizona into a shot with the Yankees, who made Refsnyder a fifth-round pick in 2012, the same hear the Wildcats won the College World Series and Refsnyder was named the CWS Most Outstanding Player.
Refsnyder made his Yankees debut in 2015 primarily as a second baseman and excelled with a .302 average and .859 OPS in limited duty. But he couldn't duplicate that success as a utility player in subsequent seasons. By the start of the 2021 season he was 30 and just hoping for another chance.
"Once you get in a position like mine, you try to find an organization where you know some people and you feel comfortable with (them)," he said, noting that he was drawn to the Twins in part because he knew Rocco Baldelli from time they had spent together with Tampa Bay and because the Class AAA to MLB shuttle is quite short between St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Not being uprooted if he was sent back and forth between the minors and majors had particular appeal because his son Drake born two months ago. Refsnyder describes himself as a morning person and take the early shift with Drake so his wife, Monica — a prolific All-America swimmer that Refsnyder met in college at Arizona — can catch a break.
"It's the best thing for sure that's happened to me," Refsnyder said of becoming a father for the first time.
And he's one of the best things that's happened to the Twins in an otherwise mostly forgettable season.
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