Twins release 2024 draft pick for cheating against his own team

It’s safe to say the Minnesota Twins have their plate full with trying to stay alive in an increasingly difficult playoff race. The Twins are clinging to a slim lead in the AL Wild Card picture, so the last thing they need to be dealing with is minor league drama.

Unfortunately that seems to be the case.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel reported that the Twins had released catcher Derek Bender, who was the team’s sixth-round pick this year, for tipping pitches in a playoff game. This wasn’t a case of Bender having a tick or a tell that hitters caught onto; ESPN reported that he was flat-out telling hitters which pitches were coming before they were thrown.

“Bender, a sixth-round draft pick out of Coastal Carolina in July, was playing for the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels, the Twins' Low-A affiliate. In the second game of a Sept. 6 doubleheader, Bender told multiple hitters for the Lakeland Flying Tigers, a Detroit farm team, the specific pitch being thrown by starter Ross Dunn, sources said,” ESPN reported.

Fort Myers ended up losing the game 6-0, with four runs coming in the second inning. All of this happened in a game that ultimately decided whether the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels would made the playoffs, and allegedly happened because Bender wanted the season to be over.

Twins release Derek Bender for tipping pitches in game that ended Mighty Mussels’ playoff hopes

According to the report from ESPN, the Mighty Mussels were tipped off to the scandal by coaches from the Lakeland Flying Tigers, an affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They apparently were taken aback by the brashness with which Bender actively worked against his own team, as Passan and McDaniel noted that players were ‘surprised’ to hear him giving up pitches before they were thrown.

Fort Myers narrowly missed the FCL playoffs this year after having a rather incredible season, one that had increasing amounts of hype among fans as the year went on. Walker Jenkins, the No. 2 prospect in baseball, started the year on the roster and the team ended up with a six-game lead in the standings before collapsing.

The collapse is how you know they’re an affiliate of the Twins, but the cheating scandal is completely alien to the organization. Fort Myers didn’t do itself any favors by blowing that sort of a lead, but the fact that Bender worked against his own team is an unforgivable sin.

For his part, Bender reportedly denies that what has been reported happened.

Bender’s price for the scandal was his career in Minnesota’s farm system, and the knowledge that he cheated against his own team isn’t likely going to do him any favors in trying to find work elsewhere in the league.

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