Minnesota Twins Host Annual Tryout At Metrodome, Get Small Showing

The Minnesota Twins hosted an open tryout at the Metrodome, an annual tradition of the team, on Monday and got a somewhat small turnout.

It wasn't a small enough turnout to cancel the tryout of course, simply smaller than they were used to seeing. The 50 person group paled in comparison to the group that showed up of 150 two years before, for instance. (Last season's was cancelled after the roof collapsed at the Metrodome.)

Out of the 50 who showed up, the Twins kept enough of them around for Tuesday's second phase of the tryout, where the more impressive guys from the first day play a game against each other. From what the team said, there were a couple of guys who had decent looking stuff in the first day:

A couple of pitchers' fastballs were clocked in the 88-to-89-mph range, and one batter from Puerto Rico hit a batting practice pitch over the fence.

"Obviously, we kept him," Twins longtime minor leagues director Jim Rantz said.

It'll be a longshot to think anyone from that group is ever going to see an MLB field professionally but it's still always a fun time when a team is hosting a tryout. Next season perhaps they can get back to the 100+ groups that were showing before the dome collapse in 2011.

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