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Marty Cordova (1969)

Outfielder Marty Cordova played for the Twins from 1995-1999. Born and raised in Las Vegas, he was drafted by Minnesota in the tenth round in 1989. He was young and took a few years to get going, but hit .341 with 28 homers for Class A Visalia in 1992. He stumbled a little when promoted to AA the next year, but came back with a bang, hitting .358 with 19 homers and an OPS of 1.018 for AAA Salt Lake in 1994. He was the Twins’ starting left fielder the next season and won the Rookie of the Year award with 24 home runs and a .277 average. He was 25 years old and big things were predicted, but that was as good as it got for Cordova. He had a good 1996, hitting .309 and driving in 111 runs, but then had a couple of off years, due partly to plantar fasciitis. He bounced back some in 1999, hitting .285 with 14 homers, but became a free agent after the season and signed with Boston. Surprisingly, the Red Sox cut Cordova late in spring training, and he signed with Toronto. He had an undistinguished year there, went to Cleveland for 2001, and had something of a renaissance, hitting .301 with 20 home runs. He went to Baltimore for 2002, but played only nine games in 2003 due to an elbow injury. He missed all of 2004 with that injury. He briefly tried to come back with Tampa Bay in 2005 but decided to retire instead. As a Twin, Marty Cordova hit .277/.348/.451 in 2,322 at-bats. At last report, Marty Cordova was the Chief Operating Officer of Bent Pixels, which helps people earn money from YouTube videos.