Minor League Transactions Update

The Twins have signed a couple of minor league catchers, according to Baseball America.

The first is Jason Anthony, who appears to be 22-year-old righty out of Van Nuys, California who played in 10 games for the GCL Dodgers last season (that's the extent of his professional experience, so far as I can tell). Anthony hit .286 with a homer in those 10 ball games, so if the small sample size can be trusted (and really, it can't), he might be decent at the plate. I wouldn't expect to see him in action until the short-season leagues get underway, when he could end up playing either in the GCL or with Elizabethton, depending on where the organization needs the depth.

The other catcher is David Hernandez, and I think I might have found some information about him on The Baseball Cube. The thing is, that site often gets biographical information wrong, and even more often it mixes up two players who have the same name. In this case, it has Hernandez catching in the Angels organization in 2004 after being drafted in the 19th round that summer, but then has him pitching in 2005 and 2006 in the Baltimore organization. Now, this is entirely possible -- minor leaguers often switch positions (Joe Nathan, after all, started off as a shortstop -- check out the 1995 batting stats), so it's certainly possible that this is the same Hernandez. I'm still somewhat doubtful. What we can probably be comfortable with is that the David Hernandez signed as a Catcher by the Twins is the one who hit .257 in 109 at-bats for the Arizona Angels (rookie league) in 2004. As with Anthony, don't expect to see him play until the short-season leagues start up in June.