MINNEAPOLIS — Before each start, Twins pitcher P.J. Walters takes a moment to write a few letters on the back of the pitcher's mound. With his finger, Walters traces "AFW" into the dirt.
The letters stand for Annabelle Faith Walters, and they serve as Walters' way of remembering his late daughter. Annabelle Walters was born 14 weeks premature with a heart condition in 2010.
She lived just 51 days, but her memory still lives on every time P.J. Walters pitches.
"It's something I just try to honor her some way every game, maybe the initials, maybe something else," Walters said. "It's just something I try to do to remember her and not forget it."
Walters' wife, Brittney, gave birth to Annabelle on Feb. 10, 2010 — two days before Walters, then with the St. Louis Cardinals organization, was scheduled to report to spring training. Walters was supposed to be spending the upcoming weeks in Florida with his teammates, but the next 51 days were instead agonizing and emotional for him and Brittney.
Twice during spring training, Walters returned home to Alabama, where Annabelle was hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit. On the second trip, he stayed with his wife and ailing daughter until Annabelle died.
"The GM in St. Louis told me to just take your time, report when you need to. Don't try to get down here," Walters said. "The (second) time I went home, I just stayed at home. It was good because I was able to be there with my wife and hold my daughter and spend the little time that we had together."
Walters' new Twins teammates weren't around during that trying time, but they can sympathize with what Walters and his wife went through.
"It's sad. My wife and I had a miscarriage when we first started trying," reliever Brian Duensing said. "It was hard to handle. And now we have McKenna, who's 5 months. I couldn't imagine anything bad happening to her at all. It's sad. It's something that no one should have to go through."
After grieving the loss of his first-born, Walters spent most of the 2010 season with Triple-A Memphis. He eventually made seven appearances with the Cardinals that year, including three starts. In those seven games, he was 2-0 with a 6.00 ERA in 30 innings.
But baseball was far from the first thing on Walters' mind. After saying goodbye to Annabelle, baseball became secondary. There was more to life than the game he played for a living.
"It definitely puts it in a different light. I think it meant a lot to my wife to know that baseball wasn't everything," Walters said. "Baseball was kind of what I did. It's just part of what our life was. To realize that it wasn't everything, it meant a lot to both of us to know that if I had to go home and take care of something there, that came first."
Since losing Annabelle, Walters and his wife have welcomed 7-month-old Phillip III, whom they call Tripp. He was born Oct. 24, 2011, and Brittney became pregnant with him almost exactly a year after Annabelle was born.
"It was emotional, but it was good," Walters said about finding out his wife was pregnant again. "It was back in camp with the Cardinals, so everybody was excited to hear about that. It was good. He's healthy and happy and all over the place. It's definitely a little different."
Brittney and Tripp are now living wherever Walters is pitching. Currently, that's in Minneapolis since he was called up from Triple-A Rochester in May.
Whenever he starts, he has Annabelle in his thoughts. As he scrawls "AFW" in the dirt of the mound, she's be there with her dad.
"God blessed us in a lot of different ways. She touched a lot of people in her short time here," Walters said. "We're grateful for the time we had. It means a lot to a lot of people."
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