Ryan Michael Jeffers...X: @Ryan\_Jeffers8...Instagram: @ryan\_jeffers27...In 2019 married Lexi; wedding was officiated by his agent, Lee Long...The couple has a daughter, Harper Jean (8/4/22)...Has a labradoodle named Yogi, after Hall-of-Fame catcher Yogi Berra...Yogi (the dog) is a big fan of laying in the hammock at the couple’s offseason home...Three-year letter winner at Sanderson High School in Raleigh, N.C...Attended University of North Carolina Wilmington from 2016-18, hitting .323 (140-for-434) with 44 doubles, 27 home runs and 96 RBI in 128 career games...First-Team All-CAA in 2017 and 2018...In 2018, led CAA in doubles (22), home runs (16), on-base percentage (.460) and slugging (.635)...Named to 2018 NCAA Greenville All-Regional team...Majored in physics at UNC Wilmington, with the intention of going into the aerospace or aeronautics industries if he wasn’t playing baseball (his mother is an engineer)...Participated in 2020 Twins Winter Caravan...Also went on Caravan in 2023, visiting Hitchcock and Brookings, S.D., and Luverne and Mankato, Minn...Made debut wearing uniform No. 39, switching to No. 27 during the 2020-21 offseason - his lucky number...Packed meals and delivered gifts to kids over the 2022 Holiday Season with Joe Mauer and Bailey Ober at the Gillette Children’s Holiday Party in St. Paul...Participated in the 2023 Holiday Week of Giving, packing meals and visiting patients at the Gillette Children’s Holiday Party with Louie Varland, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau...Favorite baseball memory growing up was going to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and won the national championship for Cal Ripken Baseball when he was 10 years old...Claims his celebrity doppelgänger is Will Ferrell - got that a lot growing up...Participated in 2023-24 TwinsFest at Target Field in January.
2023
Made Twins Opening Day roster for third time in career (also, 2021 and 2022) as one of club’s two catchers, joining Christian Vázquez, who was signed to three-year contract over offseason...Hit first career pinch-hit home run in his second game of season on April 3 at Miami, a solo shot off catcher Jacob Stallings...Reached safely in nine of first 10 games from April 2-25, posting a .389 on-base percentage in that span...Hit go-ahead two-run homer on May 29 at Houston in the 10th inning, breaking a 5-5 tie...The homer went into the Crawford Boxes and registered an exit velocity of 117.4 mph, the hardest-hit ball by a Twins hitter in the Statcast Era (since 2015)...Tied career-high and set season-high with three hits five times: May 29 at Houston, June 20 vs. Boston, July 23 vs. Chicago-AL, Aug. 5 vs. Arizona and Sept. 29 at Colorado...Recorded multiple hits in career-long three-straight games from June 20-24...Recorded second career multi-homer game on Aug. 5 vs. Arizona...Also hit a double and drove in four runs...Finished with 10 total bases on the day, tied club record for total bases in one game by a catcher and marked the sixth time in club history, joining Earl Battey (7/9/61 at WAS), Tim Laudner (5/7/89 at CLE), Mitch Garver (2x, 4/9/19 at NYM and 4/20/19 at BAL) and Jason Castro (7/2/19 at OAK)...Stole first career base on July 15 at Oakland (Tyler Soderstrom the catcher and Hogan Harris the pitcher)...Hit safely in career-long 14-straight games from July 15-Aug. 9, hitting .388 (19-for-49) with three doubles, five home runs, 14 RBI, seven walks, a .474 on-base percentage, a .755 slugging percentage and a 1.229 OPS in that span...Also was longest hitting streak by a Twin on season...Hit walk-off single on July 23 vs. Chicago-AL, capping a Twins 5-4 12-inning victory...Marked first career walk-off hit/plate appearance...Hit .368 (14-for-38) with a .981 OPS in 12 July games...Ranked third among AL players in batting average for the month (min. 24 ABs)...Hit .391 (27-for-69) with a 1.136 OPS in a 21-game span from June 20-Aug. 5, fourth-highest average in baseball (min. 50 PA) in that span and fifth-highest OPS...Hit pinch-hit go-ahead two-run homer on Aug. 24 vs. Texas off Will Smith with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, leading the Twins to a 7-5 victory...Hit 465-foot home run on Sept. 29 at Colorado, tied for third-longest by Twin on season and longest of career...Homered four times in his final seven games from Sept. 19-29...Twins went 13-0 in the 13 games in which he hit at least one home run...Hit .307 (55-for-179) in wins and .224 (24-for-107) in losses...Hit .263 (20-for-76) with a .940 OPS against left-handed pitching and .281 (59-for-21) with an .828 OPS vs. right-handed pitching...Set career-highs in games (96), runs (46), doubles (15), triples (2), RBI (43) and walks (33)...Led all primary catchers in baseball in OPS+ (minimum of 250 plate appearances)...Also ranked second in OPS (.858), third in on-base percentage (.369) and fourth in slugging percentage (.490) and wOBA (.369)...Ranked third among all catchers in baseball in catcher ERA at 3.60 (minimum of 500 innings caught)...Posted a 24.5 caught stealing percentage (40 steals/13 caught), fourth in the AL (min. 500 innings caught)...Started all six postseason games for Twins, including two ALWC games vs. Toronto and four ALDS games vs. Houston...Reached safely in five of six postseason games, recording two hits, drawing two walks and getting hit by two pitches...Went 2-for-4 in Game 1 of ALDS at Minute Maid Park, his only two hits of the postseason in 23 plate appearances...Recipient of the Charles O. Johnson Award as Most Improved Twin, an award voted on by the Twin Cities chapter of the BBWAA.
2022
Made Twins Opening Day roster for second time in career (also 2021) and was club’s catcher on Opening Day, April 8 vs. Seattle, going 1-for-2 with a walk....Set season-high with five-game hitting streak from June 15-24...tied season/career-high by hitting in five-straight again from July 6-14....Tied career-high with three hits July 8 at Texas....Placed on 10-day Injured List with a right thumb fracture July 15, an injury he suffered taking a pitch off his hand in warm-ups on July 1...was hitting .316 (18-for-57) with five doubles, three home runs, 10 RBI and a .932 OPS in 17 games from June 15, leading up to the IL placement....Played nine games on rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul from September 16-26 and was reinstated from Injured List on Sept. 27....Hit .230 (23-for-100) with a .699 OPS in 33 home games, compared to .188 (21-for-112) with a .602 OPS in 34 road games....Hit .306 (19-for-62) with a .909 OPS against left-handed pitching, compared to .167 (25-for-150) with a .540 OPS vs. right-handed pitching....Caught five of 36 baserunners attempting to steal...Caught 59 games (56 starts) on season, second-most on the club (Gary Sánchez - 91/80)....Posted a 3.59 catcher ERA, lowest of his career...also lowest among Twins catchers on season....Set career-high in walks (23).
2021
Made Twins Opening Day roster, the first of career...Was club’s back-up catcher, behind Mitch Garver, and made first start in second game April 3 at Milwaukee, going 0-for-3...Played in 11 games for the Twins and went 5-for-34 (.147) with one double and one home run before being optioned to Triple-A St. Paul on April 29...Hit walk-off solo home run in Saints victory on May 15 vs. Iowa...Hit .217 (18-for-83) with four doubles, five home runs, 16 RBI, 16 walks and a .340 on-base percentage in 24 games for the Saints...Recalled by Minnesota on June 2 and homered that same day at Baltimore; also tripled in the game, the first of his professional career (majors or minors)...became the first Twins catcher with a triple and homer in the same game since Marcus Jensen on April 19, 2000...Hit five home runs with 13 RBI in 18 June games, tied for fourth among AL rookies in home runs and tied for fifth in RBI for the month...Set season and career-high with three hits (2 doubles) on July 23 vs. Los Angeles-AL...matched that with three hits again on Sept. 14 vs. Cleveland, including a double and a home run...Recorded first career multi-homer game, one being his first career grand slam, on July 28 vs. Detroit; also recorded career-high six RBI...became the first rookie in Twins/Senators franchise history (since 1901) with a grand slam and at least six RBI in a game since Tony Oliva on May 7, 1964 (Elias Sports Bureau)...Twins catcher Mitch Garver hit a grand slam the previous day, making Jeffers and Garver the first pair of Twins catchers to hit grand slams in back-to-back games...also marked the first time in Twins history that two different catchers hit grand slams in the same season (also Elias)...Hit .344 (11-for-32) from April 3-June 22 with Twins against lefties but hit .158 (9-for-57) against lefties from June 27-Oct. 1...Combined to hit .203 (71-for-350) with 14 doubles, one triple, 19 home runs, 51 RBI and 38 walks in 109 games between St. Paul and Minnesota...Tied for 12th among American League rookies in games played (85), first among catchers and first among all rookie catchers in MLB...also ranked tied for ninth among AL rookies in homers (14), 1st among rookie catchers...His 14 home runs for the Twins, setting a new single-season record for rookie catchers, surpassing Butch Wynegar’s 10 homers in 1976.
2020
Began season in club’s player pool at alternate training site in St. Paul...Made major league debut Aug. 20 vs. Milwaukee, catching and batting ninth...recorded an RBI single in first career plate off Brandon Woodruff...became first Twin with a hit and RBI in first career plate appearance since Eddie Rosario May 6, 2015 vs. Oakland (first-pitch home run)...finished the game 2-for-3 with one RBI, one hit-by-pitch and one run scored...Hit first career home run Sept. 7 vs. Detroit, a solo shot off Michael Fulmer...Homered three times in a five-game span Sept. 7-13...Hit .300 (6-for-20) with two walks and a .417 on-base percentage vs. left-handed pitching and .257 (9-for-35) and three walks with a .315 on-base percentage against right-handed pitching...Caught 25 games, making 18 starts; 25 starts marked the most for the club...Started at catcher for both games of AL Wild Card Series vs. Houston Sept. 29-30, going 0-for-5...Ranked fourth best prospect and best defensive catcher in Twins system by Baseball America...also ranked Twins sixth best prospect by MLB.com.
2019
Entered the season ranked the ninth best prospect in the Twins system by Baseball America...Began season with Single-A Ft. Myers...Named Twins minor league Player of the Week May 26, hitting .400 (8-for-20) with two home runs, four RBI, three walks and a .478 on-base percentage for Ft. Myers...Named Florida State League Midseason All-Star...Promoted to Double-A Pensacola on July 25, where he finished the season, hitting .287 (25-for-87) with five doubles and four home runs in 24 games for the Blue Wahoos...Combined to hit .264 (97-for-368) with 16 doubles, 14 home runs, 49 RBI, 48 runs scored, 37 walks and a .341 on-base percentage in 103 games between both levels combined...Named catcher on Twins MiLB.com organization All-Star team...Named seventh best prospect in Twins minor league system by Baseball America following season.
2018
Began professional career with Rookie-Elizabethton; promoted to Single-A Cedar Rapids July 24...named Twins Minor League Player of the Week and Midwest League Player of the Week for the week of July 30-Aug. 5 after hitting .538 (14-for-26) with six doubles, three home runs, five runs scored and eight RBI, including a 4-for-4 performance on July 30 when he hit three doubles and a home run...named catcher on Twins MiLB.com organization All-Star team...named to Appalachian League Baseball America Rookie All-Star team.
