Gordon, Lewis flash new gear during Glove Day
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- It's like Christmas for baseball players, except Santa Claus is a 73-year-old Japanese master glove craftsman named Shigeaki Aso.
Thursday was Wilson Glove Day at the CenturyLink Sports Complex, and among several Twins players that retrieved carefully customized gloves from large cardboard boxes, top prospects Nick Gordon and Royce Lewis excitedly showed off their contrasting tributes to the past and the future.
Gordon was visibly excited about his black and silver glove with "XMAN" stitched into the side -- a tribute to his four-month-old son, Jaxon. The Twins' No. 4 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, hopes to one day bequeath the glove to his son as a keepsake.
"I want him to be able to see it and know that one day, he can have it," Gordon said.
For the record, Gordon says his mother, Jaxon's grandmother, wasn't a fan of the "X-Man" nickname when he first started suggesting it during the pregnancy -- but the nickname's in writing now. Joking aside, Gordon finds it meaningful that he'll be able to carry a reminder of his son onto the field with him.
"Every time I look down, this means something," Gordon said. "You never lose sight of what you're doing it for, and a lot of times, I'll put on my gloves things that really mean something to me -- bible verses, my mom, my dad, something that he would tell me, things like that. It's definitely personal."
Lewis, on the other hand, paid tribute to a pair of his shortstop idols with his glove. The tan color on the club's No. 1 prospect's first custom glove was a nod to the Cubs' Javier Baez, while the writing next to a cross, "WH BC," stood for "work hard and be consistent," which came from the Indians' Francisco Lindor.
"I think it's great terminology," Lewis said. "Keep your mind, reset your mind, especially when you're going back on defense. To write it on your glove, you remind yourself each and every out, each and every play. Just keep working hard and being consistent."
Lewis hopes to have the glove broken in by next week and is eager to use it in game action as soon as possible.
"I think [the message will] be better than my name," Lewis said. "If you don't know who I am, then that's OK, but I'll make you know who I am because of my glove."
Twins tidbits
• Miguel Sano, who has been wearing a boot on his right foot to protect a healing laceration in his heel area, has been cleared for "light activity," according to manager Rocco Baldelli, with a likely focus on upper body activity with strength and conditioning coordinator Ian Kadish and head athletic trainer Tony Leo.
• Right-hander Kyle Gibson continues to feel good in his recovery from a January bout of E. coli, but he's not expected to pitch in Grapefruit League games through next week as the team continues to approach his rehab with caution.
"It’s going to be a slow ramp-up. That’s something we’ve asked of him," Baldelli said. "I’m sure he’ll, at times, push us as a staff in some way. But we’re going to still do everything we have to to make sure he is completely physically ready before we take significant steps forward as far as what he’s going to be doing."