KANSAS CITY -- The days of watching the likes of Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Brian Dozier and Jim Thome launch balls out of Target Field aren't over yet.
Softballs, that is.
Fan favorites from the last two decades of Twins baseball will unite once again in Minneapolis on June 15, when Mauer will gather his old teammates for a home run challenge. All proceeds from ticket sales from the event will be donated to Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare in a continuation of the Mauer family's longtime partnership with the organization.
"I think I went on my first hospital visit with Corey Koskie in 2004," Mauer said. "We've had an event or tried to do an event just to raise awareness for the hospital ever since then. It's evolved into this. We've kind of had to shift gears with everything that's been going on in the world over the last year and how can we spread the word safely, and have fun while doing it."
Mauer usually holds an indoor event at Target Field in partnership with Gillette Children's, which cares for pediatric patients with rare and complex conditions, including cerebral palsy, epilepsy, spina bifida and hydrocephalus. He had to adapt this season due to the evolving challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Morneau actually coming up with the idea of a home run derby -- and everyone quickly buying in.
Mauer, Morneau, Thome, Dozier, Darin Mastroianni, Trevor Plouffe, Brian Duensing, Nick Punto and Joe Nathan have already confirmed their participation. One doctor from Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare will also hit alongside the former big leaguers at the event hosted by Twins radio play-by-play broadcaster Cory Provus.
Tickets can be purchased for $25-$75. The event will begin with a celebration of Gillette's mission before each athlete will get two opportunities to hit as many home runs as possible. The top eight qualifiers will then compete in a single-elimination bracket.
There's already plenty of buzz -- and trash talk -- ahead of the event in the group text among the players. Mauer claims that Punto started it off with some choice words.
"I don't like to ask a lot of people, but when it's for Gillette or organizations like that, I'm happy to, and the response to it has been great," Mauer said. "Everybody that I contacted really tried to make it work to come and support what I’m trying to do here benefitting Gillette Children’s Hospital. Just the feedback that I’ve been getting has been great and this thing has really evolved into something big and hopefully something special."
The only tough part for Mauer is that he won't be able to invite any of the pediatric patients to the event due to the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control -- but he still hopes that the number of fans in the stands and the presence of 20 or so doctors shagging fly balls at the event will bring about more awareness until the kids are able to return to the event in future years.
During his 15-year playing career with the Twins, Mauer was known for using the whole field -- and the left-center gap in particular -- in amassing 2,123 hits and 428 career doubles. Expect to see a different Mauer in this event.
"For this event, I’m going to be thinking right-field foul pole and getting the ball in the air, so it’ll be a little different from what I guess people are watching me do, but it’ll be fun," Mauer said.
That's not to say he's confident he'll win the event -- not with Thome in attendance.
"I mean, you can’t really bet against a guy who has over 600 home runs," Mauer said.
Thielbar (groin) placed on IL; Anderson recalled
Another day, another move to the injured list for the Twins.
On Thursday, left-hander Caleb Thielbar was the latest to hit the IL with a left groin strain sustained during Wednesday's series finale in Baltimore. The Twins now have 10 players on the IL, with Thielbar, Max Kepler (left hamstring strain), Mitch Garver (groin contusion) and Rob Refsnyder (concussion) all sustaining injuries in the past five days.
"With a groin injury like what Caleb is dealing with, really just the timetable that we’re talking about here was just going to put us in a spot where we had to get another reliever going and have here and be available, so it just made sense," manager Rocco Baldelli said.
The Twins recalled right-hander Shaun Anderson from Triple-A St. Paul in a corresponding move. With Devin Smeltzer also on the IL with left elbow inflammation and Cody Stashak set for a "reset" period in St. Paul, Minnesota now needs Anderson, Luke Farrell and Juan Minaya to step up in the back end of the bullpen.
With Thielbar having stepped up into a higher-leverage role over the last few weeks, the Twins will also need Jorge Alcala to continue advancing into such situations before Thielbar could return "probably not too long from now," Baldelli said.