Twins promote Riverdale graduate

Watkins set to join big-league club today

By David Dorsey
Fort Myers News-Press

A decade’s worth of toiling and trying, sweating and swinging, fielding and throwing, finally will pay off today for Fort Myers native Tommy Watkins.

Watkins, 27, will wear a big-league uniform for the first time today. He will have uniform No. 61.

The Minnesota Twins informed the utility player — he can play every position but pitcher and catcher — of his promotion at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. They did so as his sixth career minor league team, the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, prepared to face the Syracuse Chiefs in Syracuse, N.Y.

Watkins, a 1998 graduate of Riverdale High School, has been in the minor leagues for 10 years.

Twins general manager Terry Ryan summoned the Red Wings for an impromptu meeting Wednesday afternoon. Watkins overheard his manager, Stan Cliburn, talking about San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds hitting the record 756th home run Tuesday night.

“I didn’t know what it was about,” Watkins said of the gathering.

“I thought maybe we were going to talk about Bonds. Or we usually have a monthly meeting, so it could have been that.”

Instead, in a room full of ballplayers, Ryan announced Watkins would be going to the big leagues.

“They were all cheering and patting me on the back,” said Watkins, who almost immediately called his father, Tommy Watkins Sr.

“He was crying,” said Watkins Sr., a Fort Myers resident. Watkins Sr. played minor-league baseball himself, advancing to the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds until a knee injury ended his career in 1979.

“I didn’t know at first what was going on,” Watkins Sr. said. “I’m very excited. I’m just thinking of the hard work he has put into it, and how he loves the game.”

Watkins Jr. was scheduled to leave New York at 6 a.m. today in order to join the Twins, who face the Kansas City Royals today in Kansas City, Mo. The Twins then continue a road trip with a three-game series starting Friday in Anaheim, Calif., and then three games starting Monday in Seattle.

“I probably won’t sleep,” Watkins said.

He did not even have time to return to Rochester to get the rest of his belongings.

“Right now, I’m going to go to the mall,” Watkins said. “I’ve got to do a little shopping and get some clothes to wear. I’m on the road. I don’t have time to go back and pack.”

Watkins has been having a career season in Rochester. He left the Red Wings with a .272 batting average, eight home runs, 49 RBI and 12 steals.

The Twins promoted Watkins to fill a roster spot held by third baseman Brian Buscher, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list.

“Timing is everything in this game,” said Jim Rantz, the Twins’ minor-league director. “Tommy has always given 100 percent, no matter where he was playing. Like I said, timing is everything. Everybody is really happy for him.”

The Twins drafted Watkins in the 38th round of the June 1998 draft. Since then, Watkins has played at every level of the minor leagues for the Twins, including the Class A Fort Myers Miracle in 2002-03.

Because Watkins has such a strong following in Fort Myers, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire nicknamed Watkins the “Mayor.”

“We’re going to bring him up here and let him go at it,” Gardenhire told The Associated Press. “He played well in the spring. I’ve always enjoyed him. He can play anywhere you put him — short, second, first, left field, right field.”

“It couldn’t be a better story,” Miracle director of promotions Andrew Seymour said “You have to want a guy like him to make it. This is great for him and his family. It’s also great for the whole area. We got another guy to the big leagues.”

Other Lee County natives who have reached the big leagues include Mike Greenwell and Deion Sanders.

“We’re very thrilled,” said Kathy Watkins, Tommy’s mom. “We’ve been waiting for this. He’s such a hard worker. He’s always telling his dad how he’s doing after every game.

“He loves baseball. We’ve been encouraging him, and we’ve been praying for him.”

Tommy Watkins Sr. is scheduled to have shoulder surgery today.

He hopes he and his family can see Tommy Jr. in action, perhaps when the Twins return to the Metrodome in Minneapolis on Friday, Aug. 17.

The clock for Watkins Jr. is already ticking. In 15 days, Buscher is eligible to return.

But today, the Watkins family isn’t thinking that far ahead.

Timothy Watkins, Tommy’s 15-year-old brother, is a sophomore on the Dunbar High School baseball team, also playing the infield.

“We’re going to have a party,” Timothy Watkins said. “I knew he was going to make it.”

WATKINS BIOGRAPHY

Born: June 18, 1980
Birthplace: Fort Myers
High school: Riverdale
Height: 5-feet-10
Weight: 200 pounds
Bats: Right
Throws: Right

Stats with Rochester Red Wings

AVG: .272
HR: 8
RBI: 49
SB: 12