Denard Span

Keiunta Denard Span (born February 27, 1984) is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Washington Nationals, San Francisco Giants, Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners.

Span batted and threw left-handed and at the height of his career was known as one of the premier leadoff hitters in baseball due to his exceptional on-base percentage.

Span was raised by his single mother, Wanda Wilson, in Tampa. Wilson, a Federal City College graduate, supported Span and his brother, Ray, by working variously as a claims adjuster and day care operator. Their father had very little presence in their lives.

As a teenager, he attended Tampa Bay Devil Rays games at Tropicana Field. He attended Tampa Catholic High School where he played football and baseball. Span won a state baseball championship with Tampa Catholic as a junior in 2001. As a senior, he hit .490 with 17 doubles, three triples, 20 RBI, 24 stolen bases and 33 runs scored in 28 games. He committed to play college baseball at Florida. According to Baseball America, he could have played college football as a wide receiver if he had not focused on baseball.

Span was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the first round (20th overall) of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft from Tampa Catholic. Span turned down just over $2 million from the Colorado Rockies in a predraft deal (who instead drafted Jeff Francis with the eighth pick) and his fall to the 20th pick cost him around $800,000. Following his selection, Span signed with the Twins on August 15, 2002, receiving a $1.7 million signing bonus.

Span started his minor league career in 2003 with the Elizabethton Twins, the Twins' rookie-league affiliate. In 50 games, he batted .271 with a home run, 18 RBI and 14 stolen bases. In 2004, Span was promoted first to the Gulf Coast League Twins in Fort Myers, Florida and, after only appearing in five games, for the Quad Cities River Bandits of the Low-A Midwest League. Overall, in 2004, he hit a combined .273 with 15 RBI and 15 stolen bases in 69 games. In 2005, he was promoted to the Fort Myers Miracle, the Twins Advanced-A affiliate, and then to the New Britain Rock Cats, the Twins Double-A affiliate. Span batted .307 with a home run, 45 RBI and 23 stolen bases in 117 combined games in 2005. In 2006, Span returned to the Rock Cats and spent the entire season with the team, batting .285 with two home runs and 45 RBI in 134 games. He was later promoted to the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings for the 2007 season, and hit .267 with three home runs, 55 RBI and 25 stolen bases in 139 games.

Throughout the 2008 spring training, Span was competing with Carlos Gómez to be the Twins' starting center fielder, but ultimately lost out to Gómez and was outrighted to Triple-A Rochester. However, on April 5, Michael Cuddyer was placed on the 15-day disabled list and Span was called up to make his Major League debut against the Kansas City Royals the next day. Span failed to impress the Twins (hitting .258/.324/.258) and was sent back down to Rochester. However, he got hot over the next 40 games in AAA (.340/.434/.481) and was recalled to the Twins, where he spent the rest of 2008 season. Span's 2008 season totals were .294/.387/.432 with six home runs, 47 RBI, and seven triples in 93 games. Span was chosen to play in the 2008 Beijing Olympics but because he had been promoted, he was forced to skip the Olympics.

In 2009, Span got the nod to start as a left fielder. He also played center field and right field throughout the season. His 2009 stats showed some improvement from 2008, hitting .311/.392/.415 with eight home runs, 68 RBI, and 10 triples in 145 games. He also stole bases 23 times while getting caught 10 times. Span earned the odd distinction of becoming the player to hit both the first regular and post season hits at Yankee Stadium in 2009.