David Winfree
Chad Jennings recently asked Winfree a few questions.
Winfree, once a third baseman now an outfielder, was a somewhat prospect in the Twins system at one time. Reportedly, he’s a really nice guy. Back in 2006, he took a break from the game. Via La Velle Neal at that time:
Third baseman David Winfree left the Twins organization in May, believing he needed a break from baseball. He returned in June, with the Twins claiming his status as a prospect wasn’t affected.
The break seems to have helped. Winfree, the Twins minor league player of the year last season, recently was named the organization’s minor league player of the week and went 3-for-4 Thursday, raising his batting average to .296 for Class A Fort Myers.
In addition to support from his family, the Twins sent Winfree through their employee assistance program.
I recently saw a quote in Baseball Amercia from Jim Rantz, the Twins Director of Minor League Operations, where he said that the Twins thought Winfree had just begun to turn a corner and they were surprised that he elected to leave their system and sign with the Yankees.
Could David Winfree work his way into the Yankees big league scene this year? Hey, never say never, right?
Does anyone know why he left the Twins organization to join the Yanks? Is he from the east coast? Did he grow up a Yanks fan? Did he just see fewer outfielders standing in the way of his development in the Yanks farm system?
why he left? probably looked at spann, young, cuddyer, kubel and thought he’d have a better shot at beating out gardner/winn/thames/hoffmann. and the yankees have nothing in the high minors in regards to of’s
plus hes prob getting more $
After the way The Yanks have embarrased the Twinkies in the playoffs, i’m wondering why more of their prospects havent jumped ship.
@ clintfsu813:
LOL!
Truth be told though, now that Torii Hunter is on the Angels, I don’t take quite as much pleasure as I used to in beating the Twins. He’s an arrogant douche and it was just awesome shutting him up in this year’s ALCS.
Pavano was this years Torii
@ clintfsu813:
Yeah, it was definitely fun taking down the Minnesota Pavanos.
MJ Recanati wrote:
That seems to be the case;
“I had played against the Yankees moving up and I knew Colin (Curtis) was basically the only (outfielder) they had that I knew was in Scranton. I don’t think they have a lot of right-handed power guys, and that’s what they told me, and it was just an opportunity that I felt was a good situation for me. I’m just looking for somewhere to get to the next level.”
@ Raf:
Smart kid. Surveyed the landscape and made a potentially wise career decision. I like it.