Twins Prospect Gave OPPOSING Hitters Signs During Game So He Can Go Home

Well, this is definitely one of the weirder and frustrating stories of the season. The Minnesota Twins are currently fighting for what spot they'll be in for the playoffs, they're probably not going to win the division, but they can at least secure one of the final wildcard spots, which it looks like they will. Meanwhile, their single A team is also fighting for their minor league postseason, or should I say WAS fighting for their minor league postseason chances. They no longer are because they lost an important game, and a big reason their catcher. Not because he necessarily hit poorly or made some errors, but because he straight up threw lobs to the other team's hitters so they can hit well and he can go home. I'm serious. After having a 6 game lead for the playoffs, the Twins' single A squad, the Fort Myers Mighty Muscles, were now down to just a loss away from missing out entirely, and the Lakeland Flying Tigers, these minor league names are always amazing, were in town for a double header. Losing the first game to them, and now having the second game be the potential elimination game if they lose. Back in July, the Twins drafted Derrick Bender out of Coastal Carolina with their 6th overall pick. Nothing crazy, Bender wasn't some star or anything, you and I didn't even know who he was before this video, but the Twins drafted him, he's a catcher, and gave him about $320,000. And so off to single A he went where he wasn't that good. Skip ahead to this game, the second of a double header with playoff implications against the Flying Tigers, and during the game, Derrick Bender told multiple hitters on the Tigers what pitch was coming. Lakeland scored 4 runs in the second inning and won the game 6-0 to clinch the Florida State League West division and eliminate the Mighty Muscles from playoff contention. And there's not much video of this game, there really isn't any official footage of it because it wasn't televised, but there is some fan taken footage, like this home run by Archer Brookman to start the scoring off. MLB insiders Jeff Paston and Kylee McDaniel were the ones behind this report, and according to it, Fort Myers coaches were notified by Lakeland coaches about Bender's pitch tipping after the game. The fact that Bender was so open to tipping pitches surprised the Lakeland players, and according to this same report, there were no indications of wrongdoing from the Flying Tigers. Bender apparently just straight up said hey, here's what's coming without anyone asking, while also telling teammates, and this is the most insulting part, he told his teammates he wanted the season to be over. I would make some joke about how Carlos Correa would be proud, but he at least did this sort of thing to try and win. Doesn't make it any better obviously, either way it's wrong, but I'm just saying it would be a dumb joke. But you know what is an awesome joke? If there were some video of Derek Bender as a little kid being praised as a good teammate and someone who lifts his guys up, that'd be… oh wait, that's real. Ladies and gentlemen, I found gold. I discovered insane foreshadowing for this very moment from more than a decade ago. I couldn't believe it when I found it. Seriously, watch this. His North Colony coaches say Derek is a great player and an even better teammate. He's the first person to say hey, you'll get it next time, don't worry about it. So it's a good person to have in the dugout. It gets the other kids right into it. Always positive, there's nothing negative. He always cheers us up when we're kind of down, if we like strike out. He's like next time you can hit it and usually he cheers us up for next time and we usually do hit the ball. It's like a big old family here. We stick with each other no matter what happens. We go through bad times together and good times together. I do my personal best every time I step onto the baseball field, I guess. Always try your best. Very busy young man with a great positive attitude. So that was a fucking lie. This must be how Christopher Columbus felt. The Muscles played a couple more games after this and he apparently spent those games in the bullpen, not even in the dugout where he usually is. Bender declined any comment through his agency, the twins also declined a comment, but their actions said all that needed to be said. And the most obvious development within this story, they released him. Everything else is kind of whack. Blatantly tipping pitches so the other team can get an advantage, screwing your own teammates over and being open with them about it, all so you can go home a few days early. Yeah, the most obvious response to that is to tell this guy to go kick rocks. That's insane. Like, you're not even good either. And you're gonna openly do this? There's no way he wasn't okay with getting caught. Like, there's no way he did this in hopes he wouldn't get caught. According to these reports, he went about it in such a blatant way it was almost like he was begging to be released. It's just so bizarre, doing all of that. For what? I don't see why any other team would even think about wasting a penny or ounce of time on this dude. Again, he wasn't even anything highly anticipated to begin with, just some unathletic weak hitting catcher. And if you think that's mean, that's literally what you'll find regarding his scouting on MLB.com. Now come to find out he's also an absolute selfish loser who does not care about screwing his own teammates in the ass. Yeah, I don't know about you, but none of this looks good on the back of any baseball card. Let me know your thoughts and thank you for watching.