The Diamond: Season 3, Episode 2 recap

"Muffins? Coffee? Animals? What else do we want?" Rocco Baldelli quipped at the beginning of the latest episode of The Diamond, which dropped Wednesday evening and featured Lucy's Llamas, a mobile petting zoo out of Myakka Ciy, Fla.

This is not the farm system Twins fans are accustomed to, but it made for a pretty fun event and a cool photo op, besides. Baldelli mentioned that it was happening at the middle of camp, and what better way to break the monotony than a mobile petting zoo.

"You've gotta have fun as much as possible, just throwing people off the routine," Royce Lewis said. "It's Groundhog Day here. Keeping it light sometimes...just treat people like they're humans. At the end of the day, we're just normal people."

One fun small detail is that Lewis is also wearing the hat he has kids sign after he signs an autograph for them.

"They've got the same haircut!" Louis Varland humorously said while pointing at a llama and referring to, I believe, Edouard Julien, who took it all in and even got some one-on-one time with his hairdo hombre. "Can I come with him? Yeah buddy!" Julien said while walking the llama.

If you aren't as terminally online as the rest of us, you may have missed photos from this day, courtesy of LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

The episode opens up with a nod to the leadership of Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa, as well.

"It's well-documented for good reason that Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton, players like that are true leaders for us," said Twins president Derek Falvey.

"When they go about their business the way they do, with their heads down in a selfless manner and trying to make the team the best it can be, that's the focus. That's what everyone has to do."

Buxton noted that while he doesn't shy away from talking like he used to, but while he understand he's a leader on this team and thus will field more questions than he used to, he likes to let his work do the talking. "I'm just blessed and thankful to be in the position that I'm in," Buxton said.

Image credit: screenshot from "The Diamond" on Youtube

That dovetails nicely with him talking about a conversation with Joe Mauer, who makes his first appearance in an episode of The Diamond. Buxton recalls coming up as a youngster, and how he was around Mauer, who impressed upon him how rare it was to stay with the same organization for your whole career — a sentiment Buxton recently suggested he's embraced.

What impressed me about Mauer was that he was right in the thick of things, instrucing catchers how to present the ball so an umpire sees it clearly as well as just doing some of the dirty work that you wouldn't expect a player who made over $200 million playing to do.

In fact, I've often wondered about that. It's not too often you see players who made incredible amounts of money back in the game in an instructional capacity. Carlos Beltran is a rare exception, but we also know how that ended.

Though to be sure, Mauer looks like a natural running out to exchange lineup cards with his trademark gait, a few more gray hairs and a pair of shades reminiscent of the manager when Joe last played, Paul Molitor.

He also mentioned that it's been seven (7!) years since he's been in Spring Training as a player. The math adds up, even if it doesn't feel like it.

One other thing covered is the return of Matt Borgschulte, who is the team's hitting coach after a few seasons in the same role with the Baltimore Orioles (one of the most talented young hitting teams in the game today).

Falvey noted how fortunate they felt to get him back, and there are plenty of scenes with him working one-on-one with hitters like Ryan Jeffers, discussing balance and how to take reps to fix any perceived errors or misfirings in a hitter's swing.

Also, one last thing: the fellas got in a pickup basketball game at nearby Florida Gulf Coast University. That's the school Andy Enfield took to the Elite Eight back in 2013, and their lovely gymnasium was provided to the Twins for an evening of cardio and, fortunately, none of the team's staffers getting hurt (it did not appear that any players participated, which is not shocking).

"What we're gonna do, is I'm gonna watch these old guys play," bench coach Jayce Tingler said. "And then we're gonna see who shows up and can actually walk, function, throw batting practice, swing a fungo (bat) tomorrow...I feel confident in saying it'll be very few (of them)."

Also, how's this for wholesome — as Baldelli is doing the rundown for the morning with llamas, coffee and muffins, he mentions that the zoo will be there around 9 a.m. and one player has an animated, albeit interrupted by a cut scene, fist pump for the animals — not the food or the beverages.

Image credit: screenshot from "The Diamond" on Youtube

He's on the left side next to Brock Stewart and he's pumping his fist, and honestly....A+ for wholesomeness Mr. Jensen.