I awake with sore hands and forearms, worry and stress cause me to clench my fists while I sleep-an outward manifestation of an inward feeling. My body tenses up in a reaction to the stresses of life. The only way I am able to defend against my stress reaction is through letting go, through surrendering. The truth is-open hands are always better than clenched fists. I cut through the Florida morning fog on the way to the complex and see the sun rising over empty fields. I walk into the clubhou
Being a minor league baseball player has taught me to be an expert packer. I travel with a baseball bag and a backpack, what goes into my backpack has to serve a purpose because everything takes up space and there isn’t very much of it. Game Glove My glove gets treated well. I often use the phrase, "treat your glove well and it will treat you well." On airplanes it is carried on, if it is a passenger in my car it usually rides shotgun. Ask many infielders and they will tell you something simil
We just finished up a three game set in South Bend, IN. Although the series didn't end the way we wanted (we lost two of three), I wanted to share some of the trip. Thursday-Hecklers We arrived in South Bend around noon for a 7 ET game. I wasn't sure what to expect of the stadium and was pleasantly surprised to see turf covering everything except the mound and the bases. Playing a number of games at the Metrodome in my career I felt right at home. A large jumbotron covered the scoreboard in
Baseball dominates a lot of our time in Beloit, so when we have a day off, we are left without an idea of what to do. An early game yesterday followed by an off day left me with loads of free time, but no clue how to fill it. What could I do to fill a day without baseball? I woke up early to help Jhonathan Goncalves make a trip to the dentist. He is one of the happiest and nicest guys I have ever met. I was friend/teammate/translator for the morning. The best way to learn a language is to spea
The first full day of Spring Training was a whirlwind of activities. Being my first March in Fort Myers, I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. Here is how it went: Leave home for the airport. Say goodbye to my fiancé. Check my bags, just under the weight limit. Take my shoes off, walk through a small door, put my shoes back on. Sit and read Hunger Games. Hope they make it out alive. Hangout with Nate Hanson. Board the plane. Watch Cole Nelson try to fit his long legs in a very small space.
My name is AJ Pettersen. I will be blogging for twinsdaily.com throughout the summer. I grew up in Minnetonka, MN, have been a Twins fan my entire life and am honored to be a part of this organization. That being said, I hope my insight into the life of minor league baseball is both interesting and engaging. While the lives of minor leaguers may be significantly different from others, after the season ends we look for jobs just like anyone else. The only difference is our availability. Finding
The “typical” day in the offseason is quite a bit different from those during the season. I put typical in quotations because not many days are the same for me. My wife and I spend most of our time in Rochester, MN, where she is a nurse at St. Marys Hospital. Today she worked from 7:00-7:30pm, here’s how my day went… At 5:40, Emily (my wife) wakes up to get ready for work, I grunt, roll over and fall back to sleep until a little after 6:00. Twenty minutes later, I give Emily a ride to the hosp
I have been a resident of Minnesota my entire life, which probably makes me crazy for deciding to be a baseball player. Typically, November to March are off limits for outdoor baseball, making the offseason frustrating. In college this wasn’t a problem, as we had an indoor facility on campus and the Metrodome. As this offseason and the winter months approached, I realized how I took these facilities for granted. How would I workout now? Minnetonka I knew I would be living in Minnetonka about t
All is well in the world. Spring Training is over and teams are in their affiliated cities. The beginning of the season means jersey selection, locker organization, paperwork and…walkout songs. This decision can be spur of the moment or have months of thought put into it. The reasons for choosing a particular song are unique to each guy. There are a few popular ways I have seen players do this in the past. Play on Words Yesterday I was asking a few guys what they would be using for songs. Matt
All is well in the world. Spring Training is over and teams are in their affiliated cities. The beginning of the season means jersey selection, locker organization, paperwork and…walkout songs. This decision can be spur of the moment or have months of thought put into it. The reasons for choosing a particular song are unique to each guy. There are a few popular ways I have seen players do this in the past. Play on Words Yesterday I was asking a few guys what they would be using for songs. Matt
I laced up my spikes for another opening day, my 4th as a pro. Over all the years of playing, there have been a number of memorable moments. They can be best described by the feelings that accompanied them. The feeling of over 10000 fans shaking the ground beneath me at an NCAA regional final, the feeling of winning a Big Ten Championship, the feeling of clinching a playoff berth. It's feelings like these that stick in my head, it's these feelings that keep me trucking along. For so long, I ha
I walked outside to grab the mail and a little girl came whizzing by on a bike. She stopped when she saw me. I knelt down and introduced myself, "I'm AJ," I shook her hand. "Hi, I'm Olivia," she responded. She told me she was 6 years old, later I met her twin 4 year old siblings, Alexis and Ray. They were all so full of life. I saw them the next day, and the next. Pretty soon they were ringing the doorbell everyday to ask if I could come out and play. Now, each day at 4:30, we hang out. We wal
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?
At this point in the pre-season, I’m just so happy to be seeing games again, I don’t care about the Twins record in 2023. I think they’ll win it all, unrealistically speaking 🙂
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?· 0 replies
