When Minnesota Twins left-hander Logan Darnell made his big league debut on Monday in Cleveland, Gary Henderson was watching -- on his cell phone.
Thankfully for Henderson, the head baseball coach at the University of Kentucky, it's easier than ever to track his former players like Darnell. Though Darnell pitched in just one game out of the bullpen for Minnesota before he was sent back to Triple-A Rochester, it was an impressive debut for the former Wildcat as he retired all nine batters he faced in three innings of relief.
"I thought he was great," Henderson said. "Nine up, nine down, hard to do better than that. He threw a lot of strikes. He looked comfortable. I don't know that you could ask for anything more from a first outing."
Henderson tries to keep tabs on all of his former players. This season, that means honing in on the Minnesota Twins and their minor league affiliates more so than any other organization. The Twins currently have three pitchers who played for Henderson at Kentucky, as well as outfielder Lance Ray. Last season, that number was even higher when left-hander Andrew Albers debuted for Minnesota after a long and winding road from Lexington to the major leagues.
Albers has since left the country to play in Korea, but the pipeline between Kentucky and Minnesota remains strong. Aside from Darnell and Ray, Twins minor league pitchers Alex Meyer and Taylor Rogers both spent their college years in Lexington.
"Really, I don't know how they haven't won some national championships," said Twins assistant general manager Rob Antony. "Albers came via the tryout route, pitched well. We got Meyer in the trade (with Washington). We drafted Darnell, drafted Taylor Rogers and Lance Ray and we signed Gunner Glad as an undrafted free agent. Different ways of acquiring different players, but it's kind of one of those fluky things that they're all from Kentucky."
While Albers was a few years older than the rest, Meyer, Darnell and Rogers were all teammates during Kentucky's 2010 season. Yet despite a pitching staff that had several players who are likely to pitch in the majors at some point, the Wildcats were 31-25 overall and just 13-17 in the Southeastern Conference.
During that 2010 season, Meyer -- considered the Twins' top pitching prospect -- was nothing spectacular for Kentucky. He had a 7.06 ERA and was 5-3 in 12 appearances. Darnell was also 5-3 with a 5.62 ERA, while Rogers (who is currently at Double-A New Britain) was an underwhelming 4-7 with a 6.40 ERA in 14 starts.
Darnell was taken by the Twins in the sixth round that year. Meyer, meanwhile, took a big leap forward during the 2011 season en route to becoming a first-round pick by Washington. As a junior, Meyer went 7-5 with a 2.94 ERA and struck out 110 batters in 101 innings while opponents hit just .222 against him.
"He just had to grow into his body," Henderson said of the 6-foot-9 Meyer. "Alex is a wonderful kid, really talented, has an arm from the heavens. He's got a little bit different gene pool when it comes to arms than most kids on the planet."
Meyers' major league debut doesn't seem far away and could very well happen during the 2014 season as he's gotten off to a strong start in Triple-A Rochester. He and Darnell were reunited there and have thought about what it might be like to be teammates at the major league level.
Darnell edged Meyer by reaching the big leagues first, but he knows his former Kentucky teammate and current Red Wings rotation mate could soon be donning a Twins hat.
"We were pumped that we were both in Rochester together to start the year, and Rogers is in Double-A so we're kind of close," Darnell said. "Not that we talked about it, but we knew that it could happen, which would be awesome. When you see his stuff, you kind of figure he's going to get a chance at some point."
When Meyer finally does make his big league debut, there's no doubt Henderson will be watching -- possibly from his phone, if he has to.
"I've never had this many guys in one (organization)," Henderson said. "For a period of time there we had three or four guys for the Tigers, but we've never had as many guys with one organization as we do with the Twins. I think it speaks a little bit to what the Twins are looking for in terms of the types of people they bring into their organization."
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