Tag: Minnesota Twins

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Twins hire Japanese athletic trainer Masa Abe

Article reposted from SB Nation Twinkie Town
Author: myjah

The Twins recently made a slew of minor league coaching changes, but one new hire in particular piqued my interest: Masa Abe.

Abe, 39, was hired as the organization’s new assistant MLB trainer. If you couldn’t tell from the name, yes, he’s Japanese. He was born in Aiehi, Japan, and attended high school there before coming to the US to attend University of Northern Colorado. After graduating with an undergraduate degree in Athletic Training in 2007, Abe went on to earn a master’s degree in biomechanics from Louisiana State University.

As far as his professional career goes, Abe’s always worked in baseball. He joined the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011 and has been moving up the minor league system as an athletic trainer. Last season he served as the Athletic Trainer for the Triple-A Reno Aces, where he was responsible for the care of over 60 different players, including four big leaguers on rehab assignment. His efforts apparently did not go unnoticed, as he was named the Pacific Coast League Trainer of the Year! Apparently, the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS) gives an award to the top trainer in each of the 16 minor leagues baseball leagues every year, which is something I’ve never heard of before being a Minnesota Twins fan. As the winner of the award in the PCL, Abe is now in the running for the 2017 Minor League Athletic Trainer of the Year award, which will be announced during baseball’s upcoming Winter Meetings.

It’s probably obvious why this new hire caught my eye: he’s Japanese, and the Twins have been rumored to be pursuing Japanese stars Yu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani. Obviously there is no way of telling whether this is at all related to those pursuits, but having a athletic trainer who speaks Japanese doesn’t seem like it would hurt — particularly in Ohtani’s case, since teams have to actively convince him that their organization is a good fit. In fact, former Mariners front office executive Tony Blengino was recently on Fangraphs’ Effectively Wild podcast to talk about the memo Ohtani asked each team to write about themselves, and he believes several of the questions Ohtani asked were specifically aimed at finding out how teams treated rehab and injuries.

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Twins athletic trainer Dave Pruemer decides to call it a career

Article reposted from StarTribune
Author: PHIL MILLER 

Even the excitement of a pennant race can’t beat the lure of home.

That’s what Twins athletic trainer Dave Pruemer has decided after 24 years in the organization, and 13 in the major leagues. Pruemer will retire once the season ends in order to move his family back to his and wife, Tina’s, tiny rural hometown of Teutopolis, Ill.

“It’s one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” said Pruemer, who will throw out the first pitch before Saturday’s game with the Tigers. But his children, Hannah, Dylan and Tyler, are now 16, 13 and 11, and “it was just time to get home and see the kids more. They’re at an age now where I realized, I don’t want to miss everything. I feel like I miss too much. I don’t want to travel eight months a year anymore.”

Pruemer, 46, was hired by the Twins in 1995, shortly after graduating from Southern Illinois, and he worked at nearly every level of the system, starting at rookie-level Elizabethton through Class AAA Rochester. He was promoted to the major leagues in 2005, and has been the team’s head athletic trainer in 2013.

“I’ve think I’ve known Dave my entire career,” said Joe Mauer, drafted by the Twins in 2001. “We shared a lot of laughs, and a lot of not-so-good times, too. But he’s been consistent the whole way through, every day, and you really appreciate that, especially in this sport.”

Added second baseman Brian Dozier: “He’s very blue-collar. He’s not a trainer who’s going to baby you. He’s a country guy who always shot it to you straight.”

In memoriam

After smashing an upper-deck home run in the second inning Friday, Eduardo Escobar waved his arms as he neared home plate, kissed his right hand and held it to the sky. The gesture had more meaning than usual for the Twins third baseman.

Escobar’s grandfather, Marquiade Escobar, died of a heart attack Thursday at his home in Venezuela. The 79-year-old had recently been hospitalized with a bout of bronchitis, his grandson said, but had been released and appeared to be recovering when he was stricken.

Escobar grew up about 15 miles from his grandfather, he said, and they were very close. “He always supported me,” Escobar said. “Mucho.”

Decisions, decisions

All of the Twins got to celebrate the team’s playoff slot Wednesday night in Cleveland, but not everybody will be coming to the wild-card game Tuesday, Twins manager Paul Molitor said. And so he began the somewhat difficult process on Friday of informing players that they probably won’t be on the playoff roster.

“You want to err on over-communicating those things,” Molitor said of breaking the bad news to players. “Some [meetings] have already happened, and some will happen tomorrow.”

Molitor said he had discussions with Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey, General Manager Thad Levine and their staffs on Friday about what shape the roster might take next Tuesday against either the Yankees or Red Sox. It’s likely they will have 10 or 11 pitchers on the roster for the game, Molitor said.

The Twins don’t have to turn in a final roster until Tuesday, Molitor said, and they might need the time to make a few final calls. Miguel Sano’s status “is the wild card,” he said. “A lot of people have contributed and not everybody is going to have a chance to be a part of it. It’s just the way it is.”

• The Twins don’t get to play host to the wild-card game, but that doesn’t mean fans can’t watch it at Target Field. The team will open the Delta Sky 360 level to fans, who can watch the 7 p.m. game on the scoreboard. Admission is free, and the team will provide games and music, with concession stands open.