Todd Van Steensel - 2015

[formerly33]

Todd Bertram Van Steensel, a right-handed closer for the Fort Myers Miracle, has had a somewhat rocky minor league career but was given a second chance with the Minnesota Twins when they signed him to a minor league deal on February 6, 2014. His parents were both born in India, but Van Steensel, now 24 years old, was born on January 14, 1991 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, where he also spent his growing up years. He is currently listed as 6'1" and 190 lb. on his MILB profile. Though he has always dreamed of being a closer, it wasn't until last year that he was finally able to fulfill that dream in the minors, earning 9 saves out of 10 opportunities for Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers.

 

He was originally signed by Philadelphia on January 23, 2009, and he played a year at the Rookie level, where he went 2-1 in 12 games, posting a 5.83 ERA over 29.1 innings pitched and picking up 29 strikeouts and only 8 walks for the 2009 GCL Phillies before being released the following spring.

 

"Seeing double ... Aussie baseball players Todd Van Steensel (left) and Adam O'Neill who have signed contracts with the Phillies and the New York Mets." | photo by Troy Bendeich

 

That offseason he returned to Australia to play winter ball and work out some more, and on June 6, 2011, he was signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Minnesota Twins after going 0-1 with a 7.94 ERA for the Sydney Blue Sox in the 2010-2011 ABL. He started 10 out of 13 games for the 2011 Elizabethton Twins, where he went 5-2 with a 5.68 ERA. However, he struck out 58 in just 57 innings pitched, coming in 9th place in strikeouts in the Appalachian League.

 

Todd played for the Australian national baseball team in the 2011 Baseball World Cup. The youngest player on the team, he made only one appearance, closing out a blowout 14-0 loss to Cuba in which he surrendered 4 runs on as many hits in 1.1 innings.

 

He had a 3.32 ERA in 11 games for the 2011-2012 Blue Sox, striking out 25 in 21.2 innings. That spring he was released by the Twins, and he went to Europe to play for the Corendon Kinheim in the Dutch Major Leagues. In his first start he went 2.2 innings, giving up 1 hit and striking out 6 while walking none. Over the season, he gave up 3 runs on 10 hits in 9.2 innings, walking only 1 batter and striking out 9. However, Van Steensel suffered from a non-field related injury in July of that year and returned to Australia to sit out the rest of the season.

 

Playing winter baseball once again for the Sydney Blue Sox in the 2012-2013 season, Todd made 15 appearances from the bullpen, allowing 7 earned runs over 18 innings for a 3.50 ERA, striking out 23, and walking 10. Unfortunately I can't find much about him besides stats, but it seems that his fastball velocity improved that winter, and he had scouts for the Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Detroit Tigers interested in him. But it was the Twins who decided to give him another chance that year, making an offer to another contract, and Todd jumped at the opportunity to return to the organization, signing to a minor league deal on February 6, 2014.

 

Van Steensel has always been a big fan of former MLB pitcher Dontrelle Willis, who was known for his unconventional pitching style which included a high leg kick and exaggerated twisting motion. Todd began modeling himself after Willis when he was about 16, and while apparently he used to look a lot like him, he's calmed it down over the years. But it's still quite obvious, even from just looking at his pictures.

 

Todd's delivery | photo by Justin Rinaldi, Rinaldi Photos via Flickr

 

In 2014 at Cedar Rapids, Todd closed out 18 games in 23 appearances, posting a 1.30 ERA and picking up 8 saves while striking out 45 and walking a miniscule 9 batters, and all this while holding opponents to a .189 average. In July he was promoted to high A, and he went on to win the Florida State League Championship with the Miracle that year after picking up a win and a save in 16 games in the regular season, hurling 23.2 innings in relief and allowing only 15 hits. His strikeout to walk ratio decreased as he gave 15 batters free rides to 1st base and struck out 26, but all things considered, that's nothing to bat an eyelash at. He ended the season with a 1.39 ERA over 2 teams.

 

This year Van Steensel has played in 16 games at Fort Myers and is currently 1-2 with 4 saves out of 6 opportunities. He has allowed just 24 hits over 29.1 innings pitched, and he already has 42 strikeouts whilst walking 17.

 

Todd's story, while not necessarily the dream story for any aspiring baseball player, is a fun one to read about, made even more entertaining by his corny outlook on life and silly personality. Apparently when he was 7 years old, he signed up for tee-ball since he liked the uniforms; now he gets to wear one full time. He is also very active on Twitter, so if you enjoy reading tweets by a goofy bullpen pitcher who has maybe just a little too much time on his hands and an unhealthy obsession with Taylor Swift (who he claims to have converted to be a Twins fan - which I might add is most unlucky since she always gets her World Series predictions wrong), you might want to check that out. On top of that, he used to keep a blog called "The Clubhouse Chronicles," but he hasn't updated that for over a year.

 

Twitter: @toddvs35

[formerly33]

Yesterday Van Steensel pitched 2 perfect innings to close out the 7-inning make-up game versus the Charlotte Stone Crabs. He sent his first batter down swinging and then got the next 2 on a flyout and groundout, and in the 7th he struck out the side to end the game and pick up his 5th save of the season.

[formerly33]

Today Van Steensel pitched the final 2 innings of a 6-2 loss to the Bradenton Marauders. He walked 1 and also had a wild pitch, but on the bright side he struck out 4, including Austin Meadows who he froze to end the 8th.

[formerly33]

Todd Van Steensel just picked up his 6th save, pitching 2 innings versus the Lakeland Flying Tigers and allowing 1 hit to Javier Betancourt to lead off the 8th inning before sending the next 6 batters down in order, striking out 3 in the process.

[formerly33]

Van Steensel pitched a 1-2-3 9th against the Bradenton Marauders to pick up his 7th save of the season. He also struck out his 54th batter and lowered his ERA to 1.98.

[formerly33]

Todd Van Steensel pitched 2 innings in relief and allowed 1 hit while striking out 2 before being replaced by Luke Westphal, who got the loss as the Bradenton Marauders walked off Fort Myers with 1 out in the 11th. The Miracle lost 6-5.

[formerly33]

Todd Van Steensel pitched 2 innings in relief and struck out 1 while earning his 8th save of the season. The Miracle won 9-5, and 4 Daytona Tortugas were ejected, 3 of which were thrown out during a brawl in the 9th.

 

Van Steensel's response:

 

https://twitter.com/toddvs35/status/611748651702968320

[formerly33]

An overdue update for Todd Van Steensel:

 

W: 1

L: 2

ERA: 1.87

G: 25

SV: 8

SVO: 10

IP: 43.1

H: 29

R: 9

ER: 9

HR: 2

HB: 2

BB: 20

IBB: 3

SO: 60

AVG: .193

WHIP: 1.13

GO/AO: 0.70

 

Van Steensel took the mound for the South Division in the Florida State League All Star Game | photo by Bryan Green via Flickr

[Shane Wahl]

2015 A+ statistics:

 

55 IP, 2.29 ERA, 11.0 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 (67/27) and a 1.291 WHIP

 

He is part of the A+/AA/AAA logjam of relievers . . . of which the Twins have basically made no decisions about because they keep veterans with no upside up with the Twins and they even trade away prospects for average middle relievers for the MLB club . . .

[formerly33]

In the last month, Van Steensel has made 9 more appearances, allowing 3 runs on 8 hits over 11.1 innings, striking out 14, and walking 5. He also earned his 13th save of the season in a 1-0 win over the Bradenton Marauders on August 20th.

 

In other news, Todd has continued to entertain his Twitter followers with tweets of varying sorts. This just in from yesterday:

 

"I just shaved for the last time in five months. Hopefully. Maybe. Beards are a lot of work."

 

And, while this may have been known to others, I'm not a huge Twitter person and just discovered today that the young man is a 49ers fan.

 

 

Tsk tsk Todd ... you could do better than that.

[formerly33]

Van Steensel's season stats:

 

W: 2

L: 4

ERA: 2.32

SV: 13

SVO: 16

IP: 66.0

H: 53

ER: 17

BB: 32

SO: 81

AVG: .223

WHIP: 1.29

 

It's very odd, but my second favorite prospect (thanks to his entertaining tweets) has the same number of walks and strikeouts as my favorite. Go figure that out ... lol. Coincidences are funny things.