AJPettersen

Hopefully this story can bring you a little cheer for the holiday season, baseball season is right around the corner, hang in there! While we all expected Miguel Sano to debut last season, we are still waiting to see him at Target Field. Having played with him for about 250 games, I have seen him do some incredible things. Here is why I am excited to see him in a Twins uniform and also why I think you will love watching him play in Minneapolis for many years.This is a two-part story and it is probably my favorite memory from my time playing with Sano. It started in Fort Myers playing the St. Louis Cardinals' High-A affiliate, Palm Beach. We were down a couple of runs late in the game when Sano came up with the bases loaded. With a penchant for dramatic situations, he promptly launched a grand slam deep into the Florida night off of this lanky, slinging righty. He probably stood at home plate a little too long and neither the pitcher, nor the opposing pitching coach, liked that very much. They exchanged words as he crossed home and later as he trotted out to the field the next inning. Things settled and the event ended without anything further. We all had thought it was over. Fast forward two weeks and we were in Palm Beach playing the Cardinals at their place. We had a big lead early in the game and the lanky, slinging righty came out of the pen for some mop-up innings. Sano was the first batter he faced. All of us had forgotten what had happened a couple of weeks prior, except the pitcher, pitching coach… and of course, Sano. The pitcher proceeded to throw the first pitch right at his head, missing only slightly. Throwing at one of our top prospects wasn’t OK, so some choice words were exchanged between dugouts and the field. Sano stepped out calmly, stared down the pitching coach and the pitcher and stepped back in. When the count got to 3-1, the lanky righty threw a meatball and Sano angrily launched a towering blast to left center, spiked his bat, stood at home, and screamed a mix of expletives in English and in Spanish before walking towards first base. He was immediately ejected, which made Doug Mientkiewicz explode from his third base coach’s box. The picture that is seared into my memory is Sano coming around third, a look of anger mixed with a smirk, as Doug is being ejected just inside the foul line. I have never seen someone hit home runs on command like Miguel does. That memory is one of many reasons I am excited to see Sano in Minneapolis. Not only is he a bubbly personality and a genuinely nice guy, he cares and he will bring a ton of excitement to the Twins, I know you will agree when you get the chance to see him play next summer. I promise you won’t be disappointed -- he is worth the wait. I wrote an article for the Prospect Handbook with a few lasting memories and lessons learned through my time in pro ball, it is being released soon, so check it out when it is! More information will be available later this week here at Twins Daily. Read AJ's new blog at Re/Max. Click here to view the article

Hopefully this story can bring you a little cheer for the holiday season, baseball season is right around the corner, hang in there! While we all expected Miguel Sano to debut last season, we are still waiting to see him at Target Field. Having played with him for about 250 games, I have seen him do some incredible things. Here is why I am excited to see him in a Twins Uniform and also why I think you will love watching him play in Minneapolis for many years. This is a two part story and it is probably my favorite memory from my time playing with Sano. It started in Fort Myers playing the St. Louis Cardinals High-A affiliate, Palm Beach. We were down a couple of runs late in the game when Sano came up with the bases loaded. A penchant for dramatic situations, he promptly launched a grand slam deep into the Florida night off of this lanky, slinging righty. He probably stood at home plate a little too long and neither the pitcher, nor the opposing pitching coach, liked that very much. They exchanged words as he crossed home and later as he trotted out to the field the next inning. Things settled and the event ended without anything further. We all had thought it was over. Fast forward two weeks and we were in Palm Beach playing the Cardinals at their place. We had a big lead early in the game and the lanky, slinging righty came out of the pen for some mopup innings. Sano was the first batter he faced. All of us had forgotten what had happened a couple of weeks prior, except the pitcher, pitching coach…and of course, Sano. The pitcher proceeded to throw the first pitch right at his head, missing only slightly. Throwing at one of our top prospects wasn’t ok, so some choice words were exchanged between dugouts and the field. Sano stepped out calmly, stared down the pitching coach and the pitcher and stepped back in. When the count got to 3-1, the lanky righty threw a meatball and Sano angrily launched a towering blast to left center, spiked his bat, stood at home, and screamed a mix of expletives in English and in Spanish before walking towards first base. He was immediately ejected, which made Doug explode from his third base coach’s box. The picture that is seared into my memory is Sano coming around third, a look of anger mixed with a smirk, as Doug is being ejected just inside the foul line. I have never seen someone hit home runs on command like Miguel does. That memory is one of many reasons I am excited to see Sano in Minneapolis. Not only is he a bubbly personality and a genuinely nice guy, he cares and he will bring a ton of excitement to the Twins, I know you will agree when you get the chance to see him play next summer. I promise you won’t be disappointed, he is worth the wait. I wrote an article for the Prospect Handbook with a few lasting memories and lessons learned through my time in pro ball, it is being released soon, so check it out when it is!

I wrote this article a while back, but hadn’t edited it until now. I hope you enjoy the update and a glimpse into the wonderful world of Minnesota Town Ball Baseball. When I was younger, we loved the rain. A storm would come in and my brothers and I would run outside while my dad grabbed the wiffleball and bat. Something about the water pouring down made it a little bit more exciting. Now I sit in the Minnetonka High School parking lot, waiting to play. Rain drops fall on the windshield as I check the radar, but today feels different than the last time rain threatened a game of mine. And it's different than the one before that. Rain is a minor leaguer’s best friend, it offers hope of an extra day off, but I don’t want tonight off. I'm slated to start at shortstop for the Hopkins Berries, a town ball team in the Riverview League. Tonight we face the Minnetonka Millers, the perennial best team in the state. I feel different than I usually feel. I want to play tonight. I don’t care if it’s in the rain, I want to play. This is the exact feeling I was searching for when I signed up to play with a couple of friends. Welcome back, baseball. You have my attention. Town ball has been an integral part of Minnesota for a long time. Teams in cities large and small form to play in front of hometown crowds on cool summer nights. On any given evening you can find a game in places like Dundas, New Ulm and Saint Louis Park. Young kids and oftentimes, grown men, face up against each other for the love of the game. No one is being paid, there is no hope of reaching a higher level, no call-ups or demotions, just pure, unadulterated baseball. Just what I was looking for. My team meets about 45 minutes before games-we chat about the week, take a few swings in the cage, do a little stretching, play catch and take the field. No pressure, just baseball. Sometime during my career, I lost love for playing in the rain, literally and figuratively. I sought to escape the difficult parts of the season. I hoped for washed out games to help me physically escape from the park. Instead of being in a tough time, instead of standing in it and being ok, I sought to run away. Now I want to stand in the rain, I want to get back to being a part of the game I love, every part of it. The game starts a little late and I step into the batter’s box in the first inning. The same box I stepped into for the first time 7 years earlier as a high school senior. My soul finds its home in this space. A slight drizzle continues to fall and I am taken back to my childhood. I look towards the mound and feel no pressure, no worry about the future or the past, only focused on this moment. All I need to do is be. To be right here where I am, doing what I love. The pitcher winds and delivers the pitch and I am home again.

Bahaha. Sorry Parker, I didn't look at the author, just saw someone else refer to Nick in the comments. It is a great article. I hope Vargas doesn't ditch the leg kick, it is part of what makes him great, he has great rhythm and a natural ability to time a big kick, which makes him hit the ball exceptionally hard. Interesting to see though.

Nick, What was the count on the shortened leg kick swing? He tends to do that with 2 strikes or sometimes makes the adjustment mid game. I'm guessing you won't see that look consistently.

6:15 alarm clock. Pack up. Starbucks stop for caffeine. Hop on I-39 towards Normal, IL. No one above average allowed. Pass through Paw Paw, IL. Home to as many animals as humans. New pup, Willa, hops in the car in LaSalle. Time to take my singing talents to an audience. Go with a Taylor Swift crowd-pleaser. Willa whimpers. Then falls asleep. Alarming number of passengers playing IPads. Apple commercials everywhere. Farm. Oversized semi. Passed by an Illinois driver. Repeat.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Take a bite out of a big cheesy noodle in Champaign, IL. Drive over Kickapoo Creek. Stop for Subs in Salem. Southern accents starting to come out. Miniature Washington Monument in Mount Vernon. Willa unsuccessfully tries to bite a hole in her crate. Stop in Metropolis to see Superman. Superman themed gas station. Large statue. Catch the bottom of the state. Enter Kentucky. Drive by a few houses on wheels. Exit Kentucky. Welcome to Tennessee. Stop to Volunteer. Get to Nashville. Turn up the country music. Hit traffic. Titans’ stadium looks amazing. Squiggly road. Drive down a mountain. Enter Georgia. Exit Georgia-huh? Been through each CD 4 times. Arrive at hotel in Chattanooga. Southern accents in full force. Time for food and sleep. Final day of travel tomorrow. Follow it @apettersen1. Click here to view the article

Sorry it has taken me a few days to get to this post. We just got internet at our new place, so I had been unable to get online. Day 3 started early in the morning. We got up and hit the road at 4am Eastern Time, which felt like 3 to us Midwesterners. To avoid Atlanta traffic we had to be through the city before 6:30 came. We made it to Atlanta around 6 and drove through an amazing cityscape for 10 minutes until we got to a southern suburb. Our first stop was to eat, get gas and more caffeine. Coffee was one of our best friends on the trip. A quick cat nap in a hotel parking lot about an hour later and we were on our way. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Our second stop was more exciting. It was a foggy and rainy day in southern Georgia, but we had to stop in Ashburn to see the World’s Largest Peanut. It sat just off the freeway, but had a long driveway so that visitors could check it out. Download attachment: Worlds Largest Peanut.jpg After Ashburn we pressed on towards Gainesville, but it was still raining when we got there, so we got gas and food and decided to head for our final destination. Four hours later, I rolled down my windows, put on some sunglasses and took the last exit towards our new home. We arrived around 5 at night, exhausted and ready for some sleep. We found a few things we had to take care of immediately (notably a beeping smoke detector) and called it an early night. We have spent the last few days unpacking and getting the necessary items to make the home feel more like ours. I will be heading to the complex for rehab and a workout on Monday morning. It will be nice to get back at it outside and see some familiar faces. I hope everyone is staying warm and wearing purple and gold tonight! Follow me on Twitter @apettersen1 Click here to view the article

​Sorry it has taken me so long to get back on here folks, but I’ll give you my latest news here. Here is a review of the first half. It has been quite a whirlwind. I arrived in Florida with my wife in early January, so I have been doing Twins related activities for a while now. The first change of plans occurred when I found I would be heading to Cedar Rapids to start the season. I was sent down the last week of Spring Training and began to prepare for the trip back up north. In the few days following I got to play with Byron Buxton, which was a treat. The way he goes about his business is impressive and his tool set is off the charts. He is an exciting player to be around.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] I like to say my first promotion was when the trucks were loading up to go to their respective cities. We ship a lot of our items to the cities, so that air travel is less hectic. I was told to take my stuff out of the Cedar Rapids pile because I could be staying in Florida. This was confirmed later in the day. I had been sent down and promoted within a week, minor league baseball can be crazy sometimes. Download attachment: AJ Pettersen.jpg A 12 game win streak, a 24-4 record and a few Sano bombs later and I was heading to Portland, Maine to join New Britain. This was obviously unexpected when the season started, but was a very exciting opportunity. I played a night game in Fort Myers and played the next day at noon in Maine. I arrived in the clubhouse about an hour before the game to find out the pitcher we were facing threw 59-66 MPH. I knew AA would be different, but had they checked their radar gun lately? Charlie Haeger was on the mound-the first predominantly knuckleball pitcher I had ever faced. My dad had been visiting in Florida so he decided to drive my car up the coast (roughly 24 hours) and made it for my second AA game. His reasoning, “this is exciting, this kind of stuff doesn’t happen very often.” Once again, minor league baseball is crazy at times. My wife finished her travel nursing assignment and joined me a few weeks later with our dog. A couple of weeks after that, more friends from Fort Myers joined the Rock Cats. While I haven’t gotten off the best AA start, it has been quite the journey. Sometimes in baseball you have to expect the unexpected. It has been fun getting the chance to play with guys who have been in the big leagues. We faced a pitcher early on, who got his debut a few weeks later. It makes the “Show” seem a lot more attainable. I have seen three knuckleballers, numerous top prospects and some great stadiums. We just got back from Altoona, where a rollercoaster sits beyond right field. Some more highlights have been seeing the hardest ball ever hit (a few nights ago off the bat of Sano) and getting two baseball cards in one season (got promoted at just the right time). I hope to get back on here more often in the coming weeks and look forward to interacting with the Twins Daily community more! Follow me on Twitter @apettersen1 or email me at ajpettersen1@gmail.com. I welcome any and all questions or comments! Click here to view the article

It seems like yesterday I was playing for a 12 year old in house championship. Baseball has taken me from the grass backyards of Minnetonka to either coast and a number of places in between. There are moments I will never forget, there are others I would rather forget. Each day baseball teaches me more and more about myself. The game recently took me to Kane County for a 4 game series against the Kansas City affiliate. Here is my recap:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Memorial day weekend is an important event for minor league affiliates. On Saturday night, there were 7,000 in the crowd. The Zooperstars put on quite a show. They are big blowup mascots with a number of characters from Barack Ollama to Mia Hamster. They did dance shows and skits. The fans went crazy. While the Zooperstars were entertaining, my favorite in between innings promotion was the water balloon launch. A three man crew shot balloons into the stands and the fans were cheering for them. I couldn't hold my laughter. It seemed the fans would go nuts for anything coming from the field. We ended up losing the game, but felt ready for the next one. On Sunday night we knew we would be playing for a large crowd. The attendance came in a bit higher than the previous night at 8,300. I remember the days when my parents would be some of the only ones in the stands. They were still cheering me on in KC, but now it was hard to find them in the crowd. Birdzerk was the promotion tonight, doing skits and getting the crowd excited. The best bit was when he started dancing with Miguel Sano at 3B. This led to Birdzerk 'confusing' Sano and taking and throwing his glove over the fence (not his real glove). The fans loved it. We got the best of them tonight winning and evening the series at one game apiece. Memorial day meant an early game after the night game. We had a quick turn around after arriving home around midnight the previous night. The most important factor in this game was the wind. It was howling from the first pitch to the last. This made for a number of hits in the 12 inning affair. We ended up scoring 6 runs on one of Kane County's first basemen (who came in to pitch) in the top of the 12th. Another victory gave us the 2-1 edge in the series. We put ourselves in position to take the 4 game series with a win tomorrow morning. The final game of the series was another successful one. We won to take 3 of 4 from the Cougars and we had the pleasure to see one of the most unique in between innings promotions yet. Before the top of the 5th inning there was a bobblehead contest. Two young boys put on headband devices and shook, nodded and bobbled for a minute. I thought it was hilarious. A few late homeruns sent the game to extra innings. John Goncalves blooped a ball down the right field line and ended up scoring on a throwing error in the 11th. Tomorrow we head to Quad Cities to take on the River Bandits. The third game of that series will be attended by the Territory Train. I am looking forward to seeing all the diehard fans! Follow me on Twitter! @apettersen1 Download attachment: AJPettersen4.jpg Click here to view the article

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 right-center field and the stands stretched around the complex.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] I was in the lineup as the left fielder, which led to my first heckling experience as an outfielder. I watched a week ago as JD Williams was yelled at an entire game by a group of guys celebrating a bachelor party in Clinton, Iowa. I was lucky enough to have four guys calling me names throughout the night. I enjoyed the heckling, but was slightly disappointed the crew didn't come better prepared. During a break in the game one guy blurted out, "Hey number one, you'll never make it to the big leagues..." I waited for his reasoning, "...Cuz you suck!" Man, was I bummed, I suck? I was hoping he had more to throw at me. We got down big early in the game, made a big comeback to take the lead, but ended up losing 12-10. Friday-Food Management My roommate (Adam Bryant) and I woke up around 10 and the search for breakfast began. Just as time management was important in college, food management is vital in professional baseball. Getting healthy food at the right time helps one perform at their peak on the field. Our search took us to a small cafe, where we found Tim Shibuya. He recommended a sausage breakfast sandwich, so I went for it. Later in the day we had to figure out what we would be eating for lunch and dinner. We had a difficult time eating the night before (almost all the restaurants in town were closed), so we decided on Subway. Adam and I both ordered two subs, one for now and one for later. Food management success. It was a big win for us on this night. Behind four hits and three doubles by Miguel Sano, we took game two. He is off to quite a start. Saturday-Stories Saturday morning Tommy Watkins offered to take Adam and I to breakfast. We checked out LePeep, a small cafe in downtown South Bend. The food was fantastic, but Tommy's stories were better. His recollection of playing third base while Johan Santana struck out 17 batters was awesome. Being a Twins fan my whole life made it hit home for me. It must have been amazing to be a part of that experience. The amazing pitching performance topic continued as we were preparing to take the field for our game. We were able to watch the finishing moments of Phil Humber's perfect game. I always wonder how it must feel for someone to go through such an experience. What a moment it must have been for him and his family. Moments like this are why I love baseball. A man can go from being on the fringe to being in the history books in a few short hours. Wow. The game didn't go our way again tonight and we lost the series, but the experiences I had remain. All we can do is look forward and do our best to win our next one. Tweet me! @apettersen1 Download attachment: AJ Pettersen.jpg Click here to view the article

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. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Download attachment: AJ Pettersen 2.jpg 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 clubhouse to over 100 peers. Over 100 teammates. Over 100 opportunities. This small space packed full of dreamers used to be chaos to all my senses, but now it appears different. I have changed its meaning. I have dreamed of playing big games on big stages since I was a kid, but the more I play, the more I realize that the journey has been the dream all along. Recently I have wondered if the journey is about more than me. I would love to make a career out of baseball in the big leagues, it is something I strive for, but what if it's about something more? What if I could be a small piece of someone else's dream? What if a little encouragement or advice could help them make a career out of playing in the big leagues? How cool would that be? I return home to see my parents have arrived-they are on vacation from Minnesota. They greet with smiles and hugs. Their presence reminds me of the wisdom they have shown throughout my life. My mom has struggled to see me fail over and over, but she let it happen because she knew I needed to learn. She has an incredible heart and she constantly reminds me that I ought to strive to have a heart like that for others. My dad still texts me before games and reminds me to play free. He knows that in the letting go, I am able to be my best. When I free myself of stress, worries and angst, I play differently. What if everyone let go and worked, learned or played freely? What if we set aside our own stresses and concerned ourselves with the stresses of others? What would that look like? I lay my head down for the night and mark a successful day because my journey has taken an unexpected, profound twist that has left it with far more meaning than before. Follow me on Twitter this year! @apettersen1 Click here to view the article

When I was younger, my brothers and I loved to play video games. We took a liking to games of all kinds, but especially enjoyed playing baseball games together. Typically we wouldn’t “play” many of the games, we would simulate them. This allowed us to get in a number of seasons in a short amount of time. We would sit for hours in front of the television, hanging on every game in the careers of imaginary players on a screen. It sounds ridiculous, but video games gave us a hope that these players could be us one day. Each of us would usually take a liking to a specific guy. This guy would play a similar style to our game and we would take them from draft day to the Hall of Fame…in a few weeks time. We would imagine ourselves in his shoes, getting called on draft day, debuting in the big leagues, becoming an All Star and a hero for his team. It was wash, dry, fold, repeat.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Every year a new game would come out and we would get our hands on it, spending hours trying to perfect our players and our squad into World Series champions. Download attachment: OOTP14_Logo_600px.jpg This has been a way for us to bond as siblings. We still try to play against each other remotely. Over the past few years we have played an online game called Strat-O-Matic Baseball. It was perfect for us because we could play in the same league and the entire game was based on simulation. Recently I stumbled upon a game called Out of the Park Baseball. It too is a game based entirely on simulation, but unlike Strat-O-Matic, it is a comprehensive package. OOTP 14 recently came out and I was given the chance to preview it. If you enjoy Twins Daily’s Prospect and GM Handbooks, you will enjoy this game. While you can sit and imagine what you would do if given the chance to run an organization, this game gives you that opportunity. You control every team to every detail with personalized options available for each player. You control contracts, call-ups and team strategy. The new game added the new rosters for 2013. Free agents can now come from a number of different places-the draft, international signings, independent ball, etc. A new interface makes navigating the game much easier and a new player development tracking system allows you to get a better grip on your farm teams. Download attachment: OOTP141.jpg Download attachment: OOTP142.jpg I thought everyone here at Twins Daily would enjoy it. If you do decide to get the game, be prepared for a possible addiction. I spent a number of hours playing the game right when I got it. I shared this game with my older brother and he immediately began playing. It is a fun way to feel connected to your hometown team and it can also be great way to get to know more guys in the system. If you are interested you can check the game out here: https://store2.esellerate.net/store/checkout/CustomLayout.aspx?s=STR6838997456&pc=&page=OnePageCatalog.htm Follow AJ on Twitter @APettersen1 or email him at AJPettersen1@gmail.com Click here to view the article

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 speak it, even if I am constantly botching sentences.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] After the dentist I returned back to my host family’s home to find coffee still in the pot. Adam is still in bed? A few minutes later he rolled out of bed, no need to wake up and get moving without a game I suppose. I called my grandma. When I asked how she was, she responded, “I’m still above the grass,” she’s always making me laugh. I decided laundry couldn’t be a bad idea. Three weeks of dirty clothes are starting to pile up in my closet. Can’t ignore the fact that I have worn the same outfit for three straight days. College taught me that all the clothes can go in the washer together. Why separate them? After having some leftovers, a few skittles and more coffee for lunch, it was time to find something to do. Knitter, linguist and Picasso-like pitcher Tim Shibuya was bored and gave Adam a call. He lives in Janesville, but doesn’t have a car. After a few lefts, rights and u-turns, we picked up Shibuya and Steve Gruver. Back at our house we found that four 20-somethings with a lot of time and no idea what to do could only lead to one thing…Call of Duty. I did a lot more losing than winning. Adam was clearly the front runner in the video gaming. I chatted with my dad, he will be making the trip to Cedar Rapids this week. It’s nice being close enough to home for my family and friends to come to a few games. Steve, Tim, Adam and my host dad went out for some fishing in the creek in our backyard while I talked to my fiancé about her day. A little home cooking marked the end of a successful off day. My host mom cooked lasagna with garlic bread. They treat us like we have lived here forever. I feel extremely lucky to be a part of the family. We are off tomorrow morning for a three game road series. What do you want to know about my minor league experience? Tweet at me: @apettersen1 Download attachment: ajpettersen.jpg Click here to view the article

Download attachment: AJPettersen DP600.jpg The season ended last week. It wasn’t the way we all wanted it to finish, but overall it was successful. We won consistently throughout the year and gave ourselves an opportunity to advance in the playoffs. I hope everyone enjoyed following the Snappers in 2012. Thanks to everyone who cheered us on through this site, at games and through other avenues. It is really cool how much support we get in the minor leagues. I had a great time playing the game I love for nearly six months straight and meeting a number of amazing people. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]When the season ends we all say our goodbyes in clubhouse and head out the next day. For some of us it is a short drive home, for others it may take days on a plane to arrive at a final destination. I went to spring training with two duffel bags and returned home with at least three times that much stuff. Weird how that happens. I picked up a few bats from guys who couldn’t fly them home-can never have enough lumber. And so the offseason began... I drove directly to Arden Hills to say hi at my fiancée (Emily)’s bridal shower, the wedding is coming up! I got to catch the Vikings first game, glad they squeaked it out. On Sunday night, Emily and I headed back to Rochester, MN and the daily routine began. I typically drive Emily to work in the mornings around 6:30, quite a change from waking up around 10 everyday for a 7 o’clock game. Most of the day in the offseason is spent working out, writing/looking for more writing jobs, cleaning, getting groceries and cooking. I am also a Volunteer Assistant Coach for the baseball team at Rochester Community and Technical College. I try to make the days as productive as possible. I will start working out in the gym next week. I am trying to gain some muscle and weight this offseason. Continuing my routine of running, stretching and prehab from last offseason will hopefully prepare my body for another full season next year. Everything in the offseason follows a progression. Swinging gets a rest for a while and returns with dry swings, tee work, short toss and then full bp. Throwing takes a long break and a set program begins in January. The same is true for defensive work and workouts in the gym. Most activity ramps up and hits full stride just in time for Spring Training. Thanks again to everyone who followed along this season. I will continue to tweet about my adventures this fall and winter. Follow me-@apettersen1. Click here to view the article

Cars are packed. Directions printed. Snacks ready. CD on blast. 1719 miles to Estero, FL. After a lot of time spent preparing for our trip, my wife and I began this afternoon and will arrive at our final destination by Thursday night. My wife begins her new job in Naples on the 7th and I will start to workout at the Twins complex on the same day. Today we drove from the Twin Cities to Beloit where we are staying with my host family from the season, the Hatchs. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met and we were excited to stop at their home.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Within 30 minutes we had exited Minnesota. The drive was fairly uneventful as we only stopped once to get gas. The ironic image of the day was the water tower in DeForest, WI. It appears to be protesting the large trees behind it. Download attachment: 19896052.jpg As they did throughout the entire season, the Hatchs cooked a big dinner for my wife and I. We had prime rib and cheesy potatoes, quite the meal after a day of driving. Tomorrow we will drive through the entire state of Illinois, part of Kentucky and through Tennessee until we get to Chattanooga, where we will stay the night. We plan to check out a miniature Washington Monument and Superman’s hometown, among other things. I will be tweeting pictures of some of our stops (@apettersen1) and will blog the happenings when we get to our hotel. Hope everyone had a good New Year's Day! Click here to view the article

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 have been on a quest for these feelings-splitting my attention between my quest and the seemingly mundane parts of the game. As professional seasons drag on, people often refer to players "grinding it out." I have bought into this mentality, trying to grind through the tough parts of the season to get to the meaningful moments-the big games, the playoffs, the extra inning finishes. For the past three years, these meaningful moments have been short lived and I have gone home wanting more. Download attachment: AJ Pettersen.jpg As humans, that's our nature. It's built in for us to be on the lookout for these times, these great feelings. We want a grand memory to hold in our minds. This way we can look back on our lives with joy. But what if we didn't have to look back? My friend, Charlie, recently sent a message wishing me luck on the season. He is a retired professional pitcher who now works with my dad. The last paragraph of his note caught my attention- "See it and hit it, guy. Savor the liners and the 3 for 4 days. No matter what, just do your thing. It's all cake." Lately, I have begun to look for these feelings in everyday life, trying to experience the big moments in the small and mundane times. The feeling of a barreled ball in batting practice becomes different, a range play off of a fungo becomes something more. Truthfully, it's the same feeling I get when I'm on a walk with my wife, in the living room dancing with my niece, or watching football on a Sunday afternoon on my parent's couch. I have been "savoring" these times. Paying closer attention to them-savoring the feelings, savoring the small moments. Less and less time is spent looking back on old moments or towards new ones when I realize they are always right in front of me. I can experience that joy every day, all the time. I'm not expecting anything big, just looking for life to happen and appreciating it when it does. That is the greatest gift-joy is always attainable, even in the smallest of moments. So this season, my battle and my grind is to stay focused on the little things. To appreciate the mundane moments I had previously skipped over. To savor each and every one of them, to spend less time searching and more time experiencing. Because at the end of the day, "it's all cake." Follow me this year on Twitter! @apettersen1 Click here to view the article

The fan-friendly AJ Pettersen has been blogging at Twins Daily since the onset of the site. The Minnetonka native had an impressive career at the University of Minnesota. Following his collegiate career, the Twins made him their 25th round draft pick in 2011. He signed quickly and spent the summer at Elizabethton. He spent the 2012 season playing all around the infield, left field, caught bullpens and even pitched in a game. He begins the 2013 season with the 10-0 Ft. Myers Miracle. He had a game-winning double on Thursday night. He's started mostly at shortstop, but also in left field. The ultimate team player, Pettersen continues to blog for Twins Daily, along with writing at BaseballAmerica.com. Here is his new installment:[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ----- With the end of Spring Training and the beginning of a new season, things have gotten back into a routine. Here in Fort Myers the weather is steaming, so if you are looking to escape the extended winter and can find a cheap flight, we welcome all fans. I am always up for a free dinner as well. I wanted to give some highlights up to this point in the year. A lot has happened in the first few months of 2013. Here are some of the things I remember well: Download attachment: Miracle Logo.gif *Winter Turns to Spring I know this somehow hasn’t quite happened for everyone in Minnesota, but my wife and I got to experience a quick transition when we moved to Florida in January. Baseball has always brought light into my life, with the joy it brings and the sunshine that comes along with it. The sun may not be shining in Minneapolis, but I hope that the return of baseball has brought some metaphorical light to the Twins Daily community. *Meeting New Guys, Seeing Old Friends It is always fun to see familiar faces the first day of Spring Training. When everyone starts to arrive it feels a lot like returning to school from summer break. There are a bunch of friends you need to catch up with and a lot of new people to meet. I got the chance to meet a couple of older guys (Doug Bernier and Virgil Vasquez) and also met some of the guys taken in last year’s draft. *Playing with the Big Leaguers In Spring Training the big leaguers sometimes need to play on the minor league side to pitch a few innings or get a couple of at bats. This can be a great learning moment for the guys who are striving to make it to the show. One day I walked into the locker room and saw I was playing 2B in the game that afternoon and the SS was Jamey Carroll. I really look up to him as a player-he plays the game hard, does things the right way and does as much as he can do to help his team win. I was able to pick his brain throughout the game and learned a lot just from watching him. I also got the chance to hit in front of Justin Morneau and face the Orioles closer Jim Johnson. *The Start of the Regular Season Starting with the Miracle has been great so far. We have a great team and coaching staff and have experienced some success early. It is always fun seeing the parks around a new league. The nice thing about the Florida State League is that a number of the parks are big league Spring Training fields. This means pristine fields and fully equipped stadiums. I hope this gives everyone a good look at what has happened around here in the past few months. If you want to interact with me you can tweet me at @APettersen1 or you can email me at AJPettersen1@gmail.com. Click here to view the article

He was there again this morning. In khaki shorts, an old t-shirt and a ball cap, he was unassuming. He easily could have been missed, but I noted his presence in the back of my mind. The first time I saw him, I couldn't figure out the meaning. He wound up and fired again and again. His easy left handed arm action suggesting he had done this many times before. The big wall in the center of the complex was his catcher, returning each throw on a roll so he could reload and unfurl another. Every pitch made the same low pitched 'thump' as the previous one. He needed no crowd, no cheers, no teammates. It was only him and the wall. Old lefty, what are you teaching me? [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] I stumbled upon the article written by ex-big leaguer Adrian Cardenas again. In it, he details the reasons he quit baseball. Initially, I thought it was well written and interesting, but I didn't think it applied to me. While I appreciated the quality writing and the challenge to the norm, I couldn't relate to his reasoning. Then I read it again and the ending stuck out: "For whatever reason, I was never the sort of player who could enjoy a game, a play, or a hit before moving on to prepare for the next one. It was only after I quit that I wished I hadn't always kept my head down, relentlessly climbing to reach the top of the game, to fulfill an American dream. I wish I had looked up more often, even at the cost of some of my success. The American dream didn't tell me that an experience only matters if I acknowledge it, that losing yourself in the game is a good way to lose what makes life meaningful. When you're standing at the plate and you hit a sharp foul ball to the backstop, the spot on the bat that made contact gets hot; the American dream forgot to tell me to step back and enjoy the smell of burnt wood." Ex-big leaguer, what are you teaching me? Download attachment: AJ Pettersen.jpg So often I look for what's next. In minor league baseball, this is the steep mountain each player is attempting to climb. I slowly make my way up, but there is always the possibility of falling. So I keep my head down, only occasionally appreciating the moment, constantly worrying about the future. This can motivate, but it fails to encourage what Cardenas calls "acknowledging the experience." If I am always looking for what's next, what am I missing right in front of me? How often do you do this in your own life? How often do you reach for what's next, without acknowledging your experience? How often do you stop and appreciate the seemingly meaningless events that happen every day? How often do you enjoy the smell of burnt wood? So on a quiet morning, I have acquired wisdom from watching the old lefty. And on a slow evening, I have understood the cry of the ex-big leaguer. They both have taught me an important lesson-gratitude for each moment, each feeling, is the best way to gain experience. The quickest way to a more fulfilled life is appreciation for what is right in front of me-the feeling of fresh dirt beneath my feet and laces on my fingers. It is these present moments, on and off the field, where I find joy. So I hope more often this year I can stop and be grateful for the sounds, the smells and the moments just as they happen, because that's the way they were intended to be experienced. Whether it's professionally or as an old man throwing the ball against a wall, that feeling is never far away. Follow me on Twitter! @apettersen1 Click here to view the article

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? [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] 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 speak it, even if I am constantly botching sentences. After the dentist I returned back to my host family’s home to find coffee still in the pot. Adam is still in bed? A few minutes later he rolled out of bed, no need to wake up and get moving without a game I suppose. I called my grandma. When I asked how she was, she responded, “I’m still above the grass,” she’s always making me laugh. I decided laundry couldn’t be a bad idea. Three weeks of dirty clothes are starting to pile up in my closet. Can’t ignore the fact that I have worn the same outfit for three straight days. College taught me that all the clothes can go in the washer together. Why separate them? After having some leftovers, a few skittles and more coffee for lunch, it was time to find something to do. Knitter, linguist and Picasso-like pitcher Tim Shibuya was bored and gave Adam a call. He lives in Janesville, but doesn’t have a car. After a few lefts, rights and u-turns, we picked up Shibuya and Steve Gruver. Back at our house we found that four 20-somethings with a lot of time and no idea what to do could only lead to one thing…Call of Duty. I did a lot more losing than winning. Adam was clearly the front runner in the video gaming. I chatted with my dad, he will be making the trip to Cedar Rapids this week. It’s nice being close enough to home for my family and friends to come to a few games. Steve, Tim, Adam and my host dad went out for some fishing in the creek in our backyard while I talked to my fiancé about her day. A little home cooking marked the end of a successful off day. My host mom cooked lasagna with garlic bread. They treat us like we have lived here forever. I feel extremely lucky to be a part of the family. We are off tomorrow morning for a three game road series. What do you want to know about my minor league experience? Tweet at me: @apettersen1 Download attachment: Beloit_Snappers.jpg Click here to view the article

The Rules: A black cat can be anything someone says that is good about your own team or bad about the visiting team. The opposite will inevitably happen. Example 1: “Our starting pitcher is dicing up the other team today. He’s going to throw a shutout. Black cat. He will give up a run and come out of the game.” Example 2: “This team hasn’t hit a home run in a while, they look awful at the plate. Black cat. They will hit a home run and start squaring balls up.”[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] A white dog is anything bad about our team or good about the other team. Example 1: “We never score first. White dog. We score three runs in the first inning.” Example 2: “These guys crush fastballs. White dog. Don’t hit a fastball hard all day.” If you intentionally black cat someone it turns into a white dog and vice versa. If you black cat someone it is customary to take them out to lunch. Download attachment: black cat.jpg I was getting ready for the game, when one of the bullpen pitchers asked who was starting for the other team. I explained that he was a top prospect, but recently had a slew of bad outings and reportedly lost some velocity. As I was talking some other bullpen guys joined in on the conversation. One of them had a look in his eye like I just said something catastrophic. “Black cat!” He yelled. I had no idea what he was talking about, which he figured out from the confused look on my face. After he explained the rules to me, I understood that as far as the bullpen was concerned, I had sealed our fate that day. Superstition has been a part of baseball for a very long time. Some guys wear the same socks or shirts without washing them for days at a time, while others will go to crazy lengths to keep everything the same from past successful games. The black cat/white dog has become an interesting superstition in the Rock Cats bullpen this year. Whether these rules ring true or not, you will have to decide for yourself. A special thanks to Matt Hauser and the rest of the bullpen for their help with this article. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MHauser_17. You can also follow me on Twitter @APettersen1 or email me at ajpettersen1@gmail.com. Click here to view the article

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 walk and talk. I hear about school projects, about home experiments, about weekend plans. Sometimes the light can shine through when you least expect it.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Download attachment: kids playing.jpg Spring training is approaching fast. It's a month full of questions. Where will I be this season? Will I be around at all? The stress starts to mount as the chaos of 150 guys in one clubhouse is about to commence. I get sucked up in it all, worrying about what coach thinks what and what player ends up where. But every day at 4:30 my friends are waiting for me and they don't care about those things. They remind me of myself when I was younger. The days when I would just go play, without attaching a stigma to the playing or stressing about where the next game would occur. I would live for the day and play until it was time to go in, then I would wait for the next time. Culture has a way of skewing what playing is really all about. I play a game for a living, it's the same game I played when I was 5, 15 and it's the same one I play now at 25. Somewhere along the way I started to stress about things that weren't connected with the playing. Things outside of my control. This is what makes me most thankful for my new friends-they play as I should. Why can't I be the same? They play to enjoy it and when it's over, they wait for the next chance. How simple. So I will continue to play with my friends-go on walks, ride bikes and scooters, because I know that's what I need. They will keep me playing in the present and they will stop me from worrying about the future. I have a lot to learn from Olivia, Alexis and Ray-they are who I was, and who I ought to be. Follow me on Twitter this Spring Training! @apettersen1 Click here to view the article

Download attachment: AJ Pettersen FSN.jpg 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 hospital. On the way home I stop in at Best Buy to grab a cord we were missing for our surround sound. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] When I get back it’s time for coffee, breakfast and catching up on some TV shows on Netflix. Today I checked out a show called “Undeclared.” I liked it, so I will probably finish watching the 17 episodes…in about a week. After I am sufficiently awake (about 8:15), I head over to the computer to see what writing jobs I have to complete for the day. Today I had some freelance blog work for two different sites and editing to do on other articles. I take frequent breaks to do tasks around the apartment-cleaning, making the bed, doing dishes, etc. I am a utility guy year-round. Then it is time to head out for my rehab appointment. I have been dealing with a wrist injury for some time and I recently started rehab to resolve the issue. I meet with the therapist, Marge, at 11:20. After rehab, I am off to workout. Today’s exercises include plyometrics, a full body lift, prehab and stretching. On the way home, I stop at Target to get some chicken for dinner and special pens for wedding ‘Thank Yous.’ I always wonder what they think when I buy two completely unrelated items. I return home around 3:30 and get back on the keyboard. Feeling rather productive, I get through a few more blogs and articles, and then start dinner. I am getting better at timing the food, but still stink at it. I try to finish cooking dinner around 7:15, but usually end up somewhere within 20 minutes on either side of that target. After putting the chicken in the oven, it’s time for mental training. This consists of something different every day. Today I am doing some meditation and visualization. I leave to pick up Emily around 7:20 and we eat dinner when we get back. Honey mustard curry BBQ chicken and brown rice is on the docket. I try to switch it up most nights. After dinner, Emily and I usually sit on the couch to watch one of our Netflix shows. The show we love to hate right now is 90210. The acting is awful and the story line is average, but it gives us an excuse to not pay attention. We end up chatting and tuning into the episode here and there. About 9:15 we get ready to go to sleep. I turn on the humidifier, secretly open the window so Emily doesn’t know and jump into bed. This concludes what the most typical day looks like for me. Each one of my teammates and friends who play ball has a different schedule in the offseason. We all spend time preparing ourselves for next year, but how we spend the rest of our day varies. Right now I am writing for this site, Moneyning.com and Baseballamerica.com. Moneyning is great if you are interested in learning more about personal finance, my posts go up every Wednesday. I just wrote my first article for Baseball America and it should be on the site sometime soon. Follow me on Twitter @apettersen1! Click here to view the article

Injuries are tough to deal with, but they are part of the game of baseball. After playing nearly every day for six months, there are bound to be aches and pains. Some things resolve with rest, while others need medical attention. After this year ended, I had a wrist issue I knew I had to get taken care of. I got an MRI and after meeting with Dr. Steubs (the head Twins doc), I was referred to Dr. Berger at the Mayo Clinic. He is an ulnar sided wrist pain expert, so I was hopeful that he could fix me up. My wife, Emily, and I took the trip down to Rochester on Monday to have an evaluation done. Dr. Berger introduced himself and began feeling around for pain and discomfort. He found a few areas and then looked at the MRI to determine the significance. While wrist pain is often very difficult to diagnose, he told me there was a 95% chance I had a split tear in one of my ligaments called the ulnotriquetral ligament (UT for short). The best way to explain this is with Twizzler's Pull and Peels. Rather than the ligament ripping across the Twizzler's, it was separating the long way. The fibers were tearing and opening like a book. Dr. Berger had performed this operation many times since he invented it eight years ago. He has performed it on baseball players, golfers and many others. I felt fairly confident in his ability to fix the problem so we decided to do surgery on Wednesday. We arrived at the surgery center around 9 am and by 9:30 I had an IV in. The nurse advised my wife to ask questions after she put “truth serum” into my line. An anesthesiologist arrived and explained that the surgery would be performed with a nerve block. She numbed my skin and hooked up an ultrasound machine so she could see exactly what she was doing. She was trying to explain to me what was happening on the screen. All I could think was, "I'm just glad you went to a lot of school to learn how to do this." Download attachment: AJPettersenSurgery.jpg Once a sufficient amount of numbing medication was injected into the nerves beneath my armpit, she checked the results. She asked me to pull and then push. Eventually she pushed my wrist down and it just flopped, all feeling was gone. Staring at your own arm without sensing it is a very odd feeling. A little later, in the operating room, I was given more sedative drugs and sent off to lala land. I woke up what seemed like 5 minutes later. Dr. Berger came in and said the split tear was deep (picture the binding of the open book falling apart), but he was able to stitch it closed. He also found another small tear in the area and was able to clean it out. He handed me a sheet full of pictures for proof. It appeared to be a bunch of clouds inside my arm, looked like it was about to storm. Again I thought, “good thing he knows what he’s looking at.” I'll be in a post surgery cast for two weeks, followed by four more in a plaster cast and then a removable splint. The doc tried to apologize for the hour and a half drive to get the casts changed, I told him it was a very small price to pay to have him cut me open. I'm not allowed to exercise for two weeks, so Netflix is currently keeping me sane. A healthy dose of pain meds, Parenthood and naps will fill the next few days. I'm lucky to have a wife that takes care of me/puts up with me post surgery (she was also there after the nose smashing incident my first year). I hope you enjoyed the look at an injury from the player's perspective. I'm happy to be on the road to recovery! Follow me through the recovery process and the offseason on Twitter! @APettersen1 You can also follow my wife as she gives a little different take on minor league life @em_pettersen or on her blog emilyandaj.blogspot.com If you have any questions or comments you can email me at ajpettersen1@gmail.com Click here to view the article