FORT MYERS, FLA. – Aaron Slegers grew up in Scottsdale, Ariz., but played collegiately at the University of Indiana. He received no interest from local Pacific-12 Conference powerhouse programs Arizona and Arizona State.
And he shouldn't have.
"I threw two varsity innings in high school," Slegers said. "I wasn't even a baseball letter winner in high school."
Slegers' path to the majors was far from smooth. His senior season at Notre Dame Prep in Scottsdale was wrapped up in one game. He threw less than 10 innings over his first two seasons with the Hoosiers. But he parlayed one good year on a team that reached the College World Series into a fifth-round selection in 2013 by the Twins.
After debuting in the majors last season, the righthander is in camp with a chance to win the fifth spot in the Twins' starting rotation.
To understand how far Slegers has come, look at how tall he's grown. Slegers is 6-10, and a dramatic growth spurt hindered his progress in baseball.
Slegers loved baseball as a kid and frequently played catch with his father, Robert, who is a 7-footer. When he started playing Little League at age 8, throwing strikes wasn't a problem.
He took his talents to Notre Dame Prep and also played on a traveling team called the Arizona Diamondbacks Scout Team. Slegers was 6-2 in his junior year of high school, then grew seven inches over the next year. He was growing into a body that would entice scouts, but that body was in pain as his bones grew and his muscles stretched.