Travis Harrison

ooooo good one. To be honest, I am not well-versed enough to answer this question. This is not a political answer, I just simply do not know exactly what there purposing. But, eliminating lower level teams probably would have been great for me personally being a high pick. Overall though, probably bad for the sport and not giving opportunities to people who otherwise would not get a chance.

good question! that really is hard, I loved every AB in the 9th inning. One thing I am proud of is every manager I had said if they could pick anyone to be up to bat with the game on the line, it would be me. I finally learned how to take that intensity to every AB but just a little late

oooo minor League pay is an interesting topic.... I guess my main thought on that is minor league baseball players are the top 1% of anybody who ever played baseball. Its hard to find another profession where the top 1% makes $1800 a month haha. The difference in someone making 50 million and someone making 10k is so small its mind blowing. I was lucky and was paid a lot of money to play but most guys are not. What do you make of all the effort in advanced analytics being put toward the minor leagues? Would it have helped you? Did you get involved in the lawsuits on minor league pay? Have any opinions you're willing to share....

That is very nice of you! Thank you and I know myself and many players highly respect what you guys do here at Twins Daily. The nutrition got much better the second half of my career with the Twins. And with weight lifting... I was always the strongest guy in the gym

The Twins are the only baseball games I watch! I will watch At Bats of my buddies on the other teams but not the game.

Thank you! that means a lot! I worked hard on that.

Great question! I was lucky to have a few options, ASU, Cal state fullerton are just a couple. One thing that suprised me was there was a couple schools that wanted me to skip my senior year of high school to go to college a year early. They said i would get drafted to high and they didnt want to lose me to the draft (LSU, Oregon, UCLA, Miami). USC is a beautiful school and the people there treated me very well. The decision to go was not that difficult after I knew the twins would pay what we were asking for. (which was 15 minutes before the deadline)

I have always been much better at Math then English so I hope there less English classes haha I also figured that it cant hurt to understand how to make and lose money.

same old stuff, some good some bad. How about you?

So did i! To be honest, I don't many of the younger guys coming up. Terry Ryan came to watch me in Cedar Rapids way back when and he told me "you now look our Third baseman" then that off-season was told to start working on outfield because Sano was their 3rd base plan. I wish they would've let me continue improve. In a corner outfield spot, they want you to hit homeruns only haha To answer your question, I will predict a big shortstop that converts to 3rd base in the future.

That's a great question. Obviously, they did not have the same science and technology we have now so, most, if not all concussions back in the day were looked over. I also believe a big part of it is the reaction time to pitches. I can say from personal experience, it is much easier to get out of the way of a 90 mph fastball than a 100mph fastball. who doesn't throw 95-100 out of the pen these days??? Throwing that hard was extremely rare back in the day. With non pitch-related concussions, which I had one, I just think players, coaches and execs now know the repercussions of what concussions can have on people later in life. The risk of pushing it just a little too hard could be devastating.

Thank you for the kind words. Sorry you had to see me in Jacksonville, I never played great at that stadium! Please tell your son I said good luck and to enjoy his time playing.

Thank you! That button is truly useless

Very True. Most view as having good work ethic and knowing how to work with or lead a team.

the scholarship is based on the school you were going to attend and what scholarship you had. Thats where you get the dollar amount. Then when you want to start using the scholarship, you can attend any school you can get into. You have 2 years after you are done playing in affiliated baseball to use it or its gone. I had a full ride to USC so you can see why I did not want to waste that. I did go play independant ball and played really well. A lot of teams were interested in picking me up until they saw the medical history. Great Question!

I was not. Just tried to work as hard as I could and see where the chips fall

The Twins were known at the time to not pay over slot money and to move players through the system slowly. (both turned out to be wrong)

Thats not mean at all. you wouldnt believe some of the stuff I hear. I always knew I could play in the big leagues. I always got on base a lot if i was hitting well or not at the time. After my 3rd concussion, i knew it would be tough because my eyes started to get worse. The twins gave me the option to stay on the DL until the next year or try to get picked up by someone else. I took the option(but it came through as a "release". I didnt get picked up so i went a got lasik surgery and slashed 302/412 in indy ball the next year. I wish I wouldve got that surgery a year ealier. Thank you for your support!!

Hey Doug, thats a good question. There is obviously a lot of differences but a big one is doing it everyday and staying consistant for 8 months in a row. But good hitting is about hitting the pitchers mistakes. the less mistakes they throw, the harder it is to hit.

cool list! I love the passion everyone has about the Twins. I am now just a guy on the internet as well ))

Thank you! Buc and Jorge are both amazing guys!

I am about a year into school now. Most of it online with an occasional class. My major is finance. Im not sure of what the future holds. Hopefully real estate continues to go well and I will have different options.Thank you for the comment

My name is Travis Harrison, former first-round supplemental pick for the Minnesota Twins. I was contacted to see if I was interested in telling my story and answer questions that Twins fans might have. To be honest, this usually is not my thing, so excuse the sub-par writing skills. I do love the game of baseball and have come to love the Minnesota sports fans. So, lets give it a shot. What could go wrong?A quick intro/update on my life. I am married to my wife Jessica, who is way better looking than myself. We had a beautiful girl 10 months ago named Jamie. She sleeps from 7 pm to 7 am every night so, go me! I have stopped playing baseball officially and am currently working for the #1 Real Estate team is Southwest Florida, Domain Realty. Also, I am taking full advantage of the Twins College Scholarship Plan that was offered to me coming out of high school. Enough with the boring stuff and onto my first Minnesota Twins story. On June 6, 2011, I was attending my regular high school classes while knowing my life would change forever that evening. I was receiving calls every 20 minutes or so, and the only thing I can remember is my agent texting me, “if the Twins contact you, say you are not interested”. I didn’t think much about it until the draft had started and I got a call. It was my local Twins scout (who was the best in the area and an amazing person). He said "If you are still there and Levi Michael is off the board, we are picking you at 30." I replied with “Sounds good”. This is back when “slot money” meant less than the close door button on an elevator. People were signing for half of slot or double slot. It was just a big chess game. Anyway, pick #30 comes and goes and Levi was still there. I remember seeing my father over in the corner of the house talking on the phone with someone and wondering who it was. Turns out, he was negotiating my first professional baseball contract for me. Pick #50 comes up and Rod Carew announces my name on TV in front of all my family and friends. The time I spent with the Twins was an absolute blast. It didn’t matter if I was hitting home runs in big league spring training or striking out in AA. The lessons I learned from playing professional baseball will stick with me forever. Even though I had three concussions that really held me back, I wouldn’t change my experience for anything in the world. I have a ton of stories to tell and I would love to answer questions about ANYTHING you might want to know. -------------------------------------------------- Related Articles: 2017 Killebrew Award Winner: Travis HarrisonQ&A with Travis Harrison (5/21/13)Twins Prospect Takes Flight (Harrison is a pilot)Draft Day MemoriesSupplemental Draft Picks Have Great Talent, Made Tough Decisions-------------------------------------------------- EDITOR'S NOTE: We are hoping that Travis will write an article every week or two about various topics related to his baseball career, time in the Twins organizations, tips, tricks, and more. He certainly welcomes your questions and ideas for topics, so fill the comments with those. - Seth Click here to view the article