Report: Former Twins Prospect Derek Bender Denies Ever Tipping Pitches

[Tom Froemming]

Five months later, we have Derek Bender’s side of the story. In an article from The Athletic, Sam Blum (with an assist from Twins beat writer Dan Hayes) relays that Bender denies ever tipping pitches to opposing hitters, an allegation which resulted in him being released from the Twins.

Image courtesy of William Parmeter (photo of Derek Bender)

The Twins drafted Bender in the sixth round in June and released him in September after he was accused of tipping pitches to opposing hitters while catching. Here is a link to the original report from ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan. There have been no additional follow-ups on this story until now.

Today’s article from The Athletic is a great piece of reporting from a writer who took the time to visit Bender at his home. So while there’s room for us to react to the situation here at Twins Daily, it wouldn’t be appropriate to relay every detail of Blum’s report. Here are two major takeaways:

1. Bender denies ever giving any pitches away.

2. We still don’t have the full story from the other side. Since there is still an ongoing MLB investigation, nobody with the Twins was available to comment on the record. Among the people The Athletic tried to contact were Fort Myers manager Brian Meyer, numerous players and coaches from both teams involved in the game (including Mighty Mussels pitcher Ross Dunn, whose pitches were allegedly being tipped) and the home plate umpire. None of them were available to comment on the situation.

While Blum was unable to get anyone with the Twins to go on the record, he cites an unnamed team source who told him Twins GM Jeremy Zoll conducted an internal investigation (apart from the ongoing MLB investigation) that resulted in the team no longer being able to trust Bender.

As Blum puts it, “In their mind, this was no longer just a question of immaturity. This was a player they could no longer employ.”

Bender was known as a bit of a maverick during his college days at Coastal Carolina. That mostly manifested in a light-hearted, pro-fun approach. He appeared to be well-liked by coaches and teammates, including Twins prospect Peyton Eeles, who played alongside Bender at Coastal Carolina for one season.

Bender’s independent spirit seems to also lead him to go against the grain in other ways. This interview with The Athletic is a good example.

Blum reports that Bender’s agency, Octagon, advised him not to speak on this subject until the MLB investigation is resolved. He obviously did not abide by those wishes, and has now been dropped by Octagon as a client.

Taking Bender’s viewpoint, if he really didn’t tip any pitches, you can see why he would want to voice his side of the story. On the other hand, and maybe this is a stretch, but him going against the wishes of his agency may be viewed as another piece of evidence that he cannot be trusted. 

Bender’s messaging also feels a bit contradictory. Blum reports that Bender doesn’t fault anyone in the Twins organization and that he thinks “they handled it well.” For me, that’s confusing. If he didn’t actually tip any pitches, how in the world is being released due to that allegation considered handling it well?

Bender also expressed to Blum his feelings that the Twins would never have taken this action had the allegations been toward a first-round pick. I have to agree with him there, to be completely honest, but it sounds more like sour grapes coming directly from him and makes me wonder why that’s part of Bender’s messaging at all. If he didn’t tip pitches in the first place, what does that matter what round he was drafted?

Perhaps I’m over-analyzing things. While this article provides more insight into the situation, it appears we won’t have the full details until the MLB investigation has been completed. What’s now concrete is Bender denies ever tipping pitches. Maybe once MLB’s investigation is complete we’ll hear the full story from the other side.

There will certainly be more details to come from this story, but the good news (at least in my opinion) is that this situation will not result in the end of Bender’s baseball career. As things stand, I understand why the Twins released Bender, but I was also hoping he’d get a second chance somewhere. He’s a 22-year-old who (allegedly) made a stupid mistake. There are men who have done much worse who are still allowed to be in Major League Baseball.

Bender has a lot to prove, but the Brockton Rox of the independent Frontier League are going to give him the opportunity to turn things around this season. If he’s a model teammate and plays well, perhaps Bender will get another opportunity in affiliated ball. Not only did his former teammate Payton Eeles accomplish that feat of climbing from indy ball into signing a minor league deal with an MLB club, but fellow Coastal Carolina alum and current Twins prospect Nick Lucky did, as well.

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[AceWrigley]

If he didn't do anything wrong, why did he apologize to the Twins and if not for the pitch-tipping accusation, what did he apologize for? Why would opponent batters say such a thing if not true? It seemed egregious enough to Lakeland's coaches to tell our coaches. Something doesn't add up here and hopefully the MLB investigation report will tell us something.

[NYCTK]

In our post-truth world you should always just lie. You got caught red-handed? No you didn't. Those were individuals were obviously involved in a conspiracy against you. Where's the evidence of the conspiracy? The evidence is the persecution. Timeline doesn't match up? Just keep lying and eventually people will get exhausted and stop asking. 

Is it good? No, but it's American as apple pie. 

[AceWrigley]

8 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

In our post-truth world you should always just lie. You got caught red-handed? No you didn't. Those were individuals were obviously involved in a conspiracy against you. Where's the evidence of the conspiracy? The evidence is the persecution. Timeline doesn't match up? Just keep lying and eventually people will get exhausted and stop asking. 

Is it good? No, but it's American as apple pie. 

Maybe he has a future in the C.I.A.

[Blyleven2011]

Thanks for the article  , been wonder about what happened to him and what is happening to him ...

We will know the rest of the story after mlb investigation is completed  ...

[cheeseheadgophfan]

I'm gonna disagree slightly......it's more than a "stupid mistake".  And a 22 year old is not a kid anymore.  He intentionally impacted the integrity of a professional game....it's very akin (IMO) to betting against his own team.  He deserves to be banned.....

[Dman]

I've never heard a team tell the other team their catcher was tipping pitches out loud.  If it's a conspiracy there's a lot of independent people that have to keep their stories straight.  The umpire, several different batters and then the coaches who heard what their players said.  The evidence seems pretty overwhelming. It's one person's integrity (that appeared questionable to begin with) over several.

Playing on a team is all about trust. It's working hard to help your team win and having your teammates backs.  Lose that trust and it is almost impossible to get it back.  Best to start with another org IMO.

That being said it sounds like he has a lack of maturity and made one of those bad decisions that can follow you.  He deserves a shot at redemption IMO as I am sure it is a mistake he won't make again and a lesson learned the hard way.  Still I think owning up to it would have been the right thing to do. It will be interesting to see what comes out.

 

[Fire Dan Gladden]

He could bat .900 in Independent Ball and will not see MiLB ever again.  Whatever MLB finds, he will be blacklisted worse than Trevor Bauer.  Nobody will touch this guy.

[Tom Froemming]

18 minutes ago, cheeseheadgophfan said:

I'm gonna disagree slightly......it's more than a "stupid mistake".  And a 22 year old is not a kid anymore.  He intentionally impacted the integrity of a professional game....it's very akin (IMO) to betting against his own team.  He deserves to be banned.....

I get where you’re coming from, but to me there’s not much reason to prop up the integrity of the game in that way in Low-A. Everybody should want to win and you’d like guys putting their best foot forward, of course, but when you boil it down winning isn’t the ultimate goal there. 

I would react much, much more strongly if something like this happened in an MLB game.

[tony&rodney]

9 minutes ago, Tom Froemming said:

I get where you’re coming from, but to me there’s not much reason to prop up the integrity of the game in that way in Low-A. Everybody should want to win and you’d like guys putting their best foot forward, of course, but when you boil it down winning isn’t the ultimate goal there. 

I would react much, much more strongly if something like this happened in an MLB game.

When I read the story this morning on The Athletic, that was my thought too. That and these kids who go from college to the pros are burnt out by the end of their season. Hard to tell what happened but whatever it was reflected youthful rash ignorance; it happens. You want to see bad baseball, go to a A ball game at the end of the season where one or both teams are very low in the standings.

After reading your article, Tom, I wondered if Payton Eeles' statement was frowned on by the Twins. I don't believe what Eeles said was anything outrageous, being just supportive of a former teammate. Hard to read any  intention of undermining the Twins with his comment. Very weird however that Eeles, one of the best AAA Saints players from last season, hasn't been listed as an available player yet. I'm assuming injury of some kind though. We did hear that Emmanuel Rodriguez was injured (ankle).

[Jocko87]

I think the ultimate tell is that the Twins just cut bait rather than trading him. If it was questionable in their eyes it's fine to move on from the guy while getting some sort of piece back.

That said, other teams would have heard the same things so his value would be nothing if there was solid evidence. I guess they made the calculation that the goodwill of dealing with it swiftly was worth more than any trade return.

All 23 year olds in a situation like this will need to do something to salvage a reputation and career so everything basically checks out here.

Early reports were that the other team told on him. Unless they are false, it's all damage control.

[jkcarew]

1 hour ago, Tom Froemming said:

I get where you’re coming from, but to me there’s not much reason to prop up the integrity of the game in that way in Low-A. Everybody should want to win and you’d like guys putting their best foot forward, of course, but when you boil it down winning isn’t the ultimate goal there. 

I would react much, much more strongly if something like this happened in an MLB game.

Agreed that integrity of the game is not number one here. It’s integrity of the player. Character of the player. If It’s a “mistake”…it’s a mistake you only get to make one time. The ultimate act of selfishness and betrayal in a team sport, and in a professional setting where results are highly correlated to future income. Professional players will never accept and trust this guy. He committed premeditated, first-degree murder on his professional career.

[chpettit19]

I read the article on The Athletic and he doesn't come across as super believable. I'll wait until MLB releases their findings, but it's hard to believe he didn't do this. He seems like a young man who doesn't quite have his head on straight and is a little too head strong for his own good.

What's the motivation to do this interview now? Against the advice of your agents that gets you cut from their company, too. If MLB comes out and says they couldn't prove anything so he's allowed to sign with any team, how does it look to the teams when it comes to trusting his judgement? And the article mentions him getting into arguments with the Twins development coaches before the day in question as well. This is now all out there hurting his reputation more. He's too prideful or immature or head strong or whatever it is and has dug himself a deeper hole with this.

[jkcarew]

3 hours ago, NYCTK said:

 

In our post-truth world you should always just lie. You got caught red-handed? No you didn't. Those were individuals were obviously involved in a conspiracy against you. Where's the evidence of the conspiracy? The evidence is the persecution. Timeline doesn't match up? Just keep lying and eventually people will get exhausted and stop asking. 

 

This is EXACTLY where he’s going with this…and against the advice of his agency, who told him to stay quiet until the investigation is completed. And so, the agency promptly dropped him.

[NYCTK]

Just now, jkcarew said:

This is EXACTLY what he’s doing…and against the advice of his agency, who told him to stay quiet until the investigation is completed. And so, the agency promptly dropped him.

Well. Now he just earn tons of money with an online grift. Blame cancel culture, or wokeness. Could be on CNN within weeks. This country loves a con man. 

[PatPfund]

I still believe the Twins did the right thing. The end result of many minors games may not be to win, but it definitely isn't  to throw games to get rest time, and much worse, make your teammate (who is also fighting for advancement) look terrible so you can get time off.

I think he deserves another chance (it's not like this was a sexual assault), but he also has to earn it, and if this statement ends up undermined by the investigation, most organizations are going to look at the denial as another judgement lapse that has to be overcome. (Probably why his agency didn't want him talking.)

[DocBauer]

I read the article. I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying he was quoted as saying he made a joke to a teammate about letting a ball go under their glove. Why even mention such a joke in the interview?

IF he's innocent I'd hate to see his life have a black mark, or see his potential baseball career be ruined? And maybe he's not a bad guy. Maybe he made a HUGE mistake because he was dealing with something in his life we don't know about and don't understand.

If so, I'd hate to have somebody's life and reputation scarred. 

BUT, the OTHER team reported it. What kind of agenda could they possibly have against him? The umpire reported after the fact he heard the same? What possible agenda could he have? Why would he go against the advice of his agency while a report was still being filed if he was concerned about his reputation?

Why he did what it's been reported he did is beyond our knowledge. But for what possible reason would a MILB team, and a MILB umpire have to to report something so egregious about a rookie MILB catcher? 

I don't wish the kid ill in his future. Again, maybe he's going through something in his life and made a major mistake as a result. But any sort of protestation of innocence here rings very hollow.

[Fatbat]

6 hours ago, cheeseheadgophfan said:

I'm gonna disagree slightly......it's more than a "stupid mistake".  And a 22 year old is not a kid anymore.  He intentionally impacted the integrity of a professional game....it's very akin (IMO) to betting against his own team.  He deserves to be banned.....

I am gonna disagree slightly. I got a couple 20 somethings and work with others that age.  They are well educated dumb as a box of rocks. KIDS. They do stupid Shat.  He should still be banned. 
 

6 hours ago, cheeseheadgophfan said:

[Parfigliano]

5 hours ago, NYCTK said:

Well. Now he just earn tons of money with an online grift. Blame cancel culture, or wokeness. Could be on CNN within weeks. This country loves a con man. 

I get the feeling you're talking about more then baseball.

[NYCTK]

9 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

I get the feeling you're talking about more then baseball.

I would never...

 

[Vanimal46]

I started reading the Athletic article, and immediately got the impression this is a kid that has never faced consequences for anything in his life. 

[bean5302]

First off, I believe a lot of people get the shaft when it comes to accusations, and I believe a lot of people simply apologize and hope it blows over because an apology DOES fix the problem 90% of the time whereas if you fight and lose the debate, it's all over.

This was pretty much exactly what I remembered from when the story broke last year. The other team told the Ft. Myers coaches about what was going on after the game. It's catastrophic to a denial he was tipping pitches.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/41238109/sources-twins-cut-derek-bender-catcher-told-opposing-hitters-incoming-pitch

Quote

Fort Myers coaches were notified by Lakeland coaches about Bender's pitch tipping after the game, sources said.

I don't really think Bender has a leg to stand on here, regardless of whether or not he did or didn't do what he was accused of. Unfortunately, he appears to also be unable to shut his pie hole, and that makes things impossible to sweep under the rug and restart. His agency was correct. Let people forget about it because it's the only way you'll ever earn a chance again.