3 Miracle players move up ladder

Trio sent to Double-A team in Connecticut

By David Dorsey
Fort Myers News Press

The Minnesota Twins promoted three key players from the Class A Fort Myers Miracle to Double-A New Britain, Conn., on Wednesday afternoon, but not before Miracle manager Riccardo Ingram got three last laughs at their expense.

One at a time, starting pitchers Glen Perkins and Errol Simonitsch, both 22, and center fielder Denard Span, 21, filed into Ingram's office, where Ingram initially put on a grim face and began to chew each of them out.

"He had me fooled for sure," Perkins said.

Ingram started with Perkins, telling the lefty he would be fined $50.

"Didn't I tell you about throwing baseballs in the clubhouse?" Ingram said he asked. "That's 50 bucks."

"That's pretty steep," Perkins replied.

"Well, you're going to have to give me $50 if you want to go to Double-A," Ingram said.

At that point, Perkins -- he finished the first half with a 3-2 record, a 2.13 ERA and 66 strikeouts -- realized he had been had.

Next up: Simonitsch, who donates $10 for each of his strikeouts to Strikeouts for Troops, a nonprofit organization that raises money for wounded veteran soldiers and their families.

Simonitsch, who finished the first half of the Florida State League season with an 8-3 record, a 2.69 ERA and 72 strikeouts, has so far pledged $720 to the cause, something he plans to continue in Double-A.

"I walked in there, and they had these serious looks on their faces," Simonitsch said. "I just started laughing. I was like, 'I didn't do anything.' "

Simonitsch, regarded as one of the best citizens in the clubhouse, had Ingram struggling to think of a fake $50 fine.

"I just said, 'Simo, you never do anything wrong. You always do everything the right way, and I'm sick of it. So we're sending you to Double-A,' " Ingram said.

Next up: Span, who led the league in hitting (.335) and in on-base percentage (.410) the first half of the season. He also had 13 stolen bases, 19 RBI and one home run, which he hit Tuesday.

"I told him he was getting fined $50 for living in Tampa and not having his mom cook dinner for the team once during the season," Ingram said.

"I said, 'You pay the $50, or you don't go to Double-A.' Then he kind of cracks a smile."

All three players said they could not wait to start playing at the next level. But they will have to.

After catching a flight at 12:15 p.m. today for Hartford, Conn., they will join their new teammates for an eight-hour, overnight bus ride to Altoona, Pa., beginning a six-game road trip.

"It's one more step away from the big leagues, really," Span said. "I put in a lot of hard work in the offseason.

"You go through a lot in the minor leagues. When you get a promotion like that, it's a big deal."

Span said he appreciated everything the Miracle coaches -- Ingram, Eric Rasmussen and Jeff Carter -- did for him.

"They were probably the best coaching staff that I played under," Span said.

"They made playing the game easier and a lot more fun."

Ingram said he's not sure how the Miracle roster and lineup will fall into place.

"That's my homework assignment for the night," he said.

Losing three of his best players might make winning the second half of the season more difficult.

But, he said, he's happy for the players.

"By no means does this make us unable to compete," Ingram said. "We're not going to sit back and cry. No one's going to feel sorry for us, and we're certainly not going to feel sorry for ourselves."

Note: Wednesday's game with Lakeland was rained out. The Miracle are on the road tonight against Clearwater.