Minnesota Twins Caravan Brings Hope to Fans in Owatonna

A hopeful crowd filled Plaza Morena Campestre Grill in Owatonna on Thursday for the annual Minnesota Twins winter caravan tour.

Emcee and radio broadcaster Kris Atteberry acknowledged that looking back at last year, with its franchise record loss total, was tough to do. Pitcher Trevor May drove home the point that he believes the team has the talent in place to succeed. He spoke of the young talent the team has with Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton. He said players like Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer provide clubhouse leadership. May spins the tale of how he is responsible for Buxton's strong month of September last season in the video below. Link to the full list of videos on the KRFO YouTube channel.

He says starting pitchers Ervin Santana and Hector Santiago are players who can lead the team to success. The return of Phil Hughes and Glen Perkins from injury gives the team depth on the mound. May transitioned from starter the reliever last season. He knows he will have a chance to battle for a spot in the starting rotation at training camp, but has grown to enjoy his role out of the bullpen as well.

Reliever Taylor Rogers also appeared in Owatonna. He made his major league debut in 2016. He has been part of a group in the organization that has won at multiple levels. He wants to see that winning mindset lead the success at the major league level.

May is a bit of an entrepreneur and a DJ, t-shirt designer and online game player. He says he has always liked music and bought a turntable set. He even did some DJ work at his own wedding. A friend of his designed a t-shirt that is a silhouette of May's hair and eyebrows. He ordered 40 shirts to sell and still has 33 of them in his garage. Although he did run into one of the people who purchased his shirt during the caravan stop in Austin on Thursday. That person happened to be a regular in his online games room as well.

Rogers has a twin in the San Francisco organization. The Twins go to the Giants this coming season. Officials at the Elias Sports Bureau might want to start researching whether twins have even pitched against one another in a major league game.

Mascot TC was a busy bear on Thursday as he posed for pictures, served food, bussed tables and even cleared slush off the bus before departing for their final stop on the caravan. Minnesota Twins baseball will be heard again this season on KRFO AM 1390. Spring training games start in late February. The regular season opener is April 3 at Target Field.