Grady Sizemore, who during the early part of his career with the Cleveland Indians appeared to be on the verge of baseball superstardom, only to see that career cut short by injuries, has been named the Twins’ first-base coach under new manager Derek Shelton, the team recently announced.
Prior to joining the Twins, Sizemore spent the past two seasons on the Chicago White Sox coaching staff, including a stint as interim manager on the Sox’s woefully bad 2024 team. None of that is going to stand out on anyone’s curriculum vitae, so his arrival in Minnesota as first-base coach generated only a perplexed response from this fan, something along the lines of: Huh?
But perhaps a closer look is warranted. Although Sizemore is ostensibly the first-base coach, he also has been asked to coach outfielders and offer instruction on base-running, according to MLB Trade Rumors, and that’s where things get interesting.
Between 2005 and 2008, Sizemore scored more than 100 runs per season. In fact, in 2006 he led the majors in runs scored with 134 and doubles with 53. He also stole 20-40 bases per season over that same span. Some might still say: So what? That was nearly 20 years ago.
Here’s the kicker: New manager Shelton was Cleveland’s hitting coach from 2005 to 2009 and almost certainly saw Sizemore in action, someone in those years who appeared to have no trouble going from home plate to second base and from second to home. That baseball wisdom might be worth imparting to the Twins.
Sadly, after 2008, it all went downhill for Sizemore because of arm, back and knee injuries. From 2009 until the end of his career in 2015, he played in more than 100 games only one more time and missed all of 2012 and 2013 due to injuries. He exited the game at 32.
During his career, he hit well against the Twins, slashing .277/.354/.481 across 109 games, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
On Sept. 11, 2005, the Indians knocked off the Twins 12-4 at Jacobs Field in Cleveland. Sizemore had three hits, including a triple and home run, scored three runs, drove in three more and earned a free pass to first base.
“A leadoff triple to Grady Sizemore. An RBI double by Coco Crisp. A single by Jhonny Peralta. A sacrifice fly by Travis Hafner. Then a three-run homer to center by Victor Martinez. It was 4-0 Cleveland, and the announced crowd of 38,564 was able to cheer off the weekend football losses by Ohio State and the Cleveland Browns,” the Star Tribune reported.
The Tribe, as you can see, made quick work of Twins starter Carlos Silva, who lasted all of one frame, serving up four runs on four hits on 18 pitches.
Source: Newspapers.com