A couple of utility players with Rocco Baldelli connections seem like a natural addition to a Twins team that likes moveable parts. That one of them comes with the veneer, however faded, of a former top prospect is a bonus.
Tim Beckham, Daniel Robertson to join Twins on minor league deals
Beckham, a 32-year-old infielder who was the No. 1 overall pick in 2008 has not played in the major leagues since 2019.
February 5, 2022 at 8:58PM
Tim Beckham, the first overall pick in the 2008 draft and now a 32-year-old journeyman with decent power, has signed a minor league contract with the Twins, a team source confirmed Saturday, and will have an opportunity to earn a spot with his fourth major league team whenever camps eventually open. In addition, Daniel Robertson, another former Rays player who played for the Brewers last summer, has also signed.
Beckham never fulfilled the expectations that Tampa Bay had when the Rays drafted him as an 18-year-old shortstop out of Griffin (Ga.) High School, but he has played 472 big-league games and hit 63 home runs. He spent the 2021 season with the White Sox Class AAA Charlotte team, playing all four infield positions and batting .279 with 11 homers in 45 games.
He last played in the majors with Seattle in 2019 — a 15-home run season that ended on Aug. 6, when he was suspended for 80 games after testing positive for stanozolol, the same steroid that sidelined former Twins pitcher Ervin Santana in 2015. Beckham sat out the final 48 games of the Mariners' season and presumably would have to miss another 32 games if he reaches the major leagues again.
Beckham was primarily a shortstop early in his career, when he spent parts of four seasons in Tampa Bay, where Baldelli was a coach. He has become a utility player more recently; the Mariners used him at five different positions in 2019, including left field. His best season was 2017, when he hit .278 with 22 home runs in 137 games for the Rays and, after a trade-deadline deal, the Orioles.
He also served a 50-game suspension for failing a test for a "drug of abuse" while in the minors in 2012, and missed the entire 2014 season after tearing the ACL in his right knee.
Should he ever play for the Twins, he would become the fifth overall No. 1 pick ever to do so, joining Danny Goodwin (1975), Phil Nevin (1992), Joe Mauer (2001) and Delmon Young (2003). Royce Lewis, chosen No. 1 by the Twins in 2017, will also be in camp, though figures to start the season in the minor leagues.
Robertson, taken 34th overall by the Athletics in 2012, has batted .227 with 18 home runs in 299 career games in Tampa Bay, San Francisco and Milwaukee. He has spent significant time at second base, third base and shortstop.
The Twins are scheduled to open their 62nd spring training camp on Feb. 14, but MLB owners have locked out the players as the sides negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement governing the game's salary structure. Nonroster invitees such as Beckham, Robertson, Danny Coloumbe and Juan Minaya, however, are not locked out and can report to camp, though they are not required to do so until early March.
The Twins' equipment truck departed for Fort Myers, Fla., on Saturday, normally a sign that the opening of camp is imminent.
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