Michael Helman #24

Originally selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 13th round of the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft...Played college baseball at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College (216-17) and Texas A&M University (2018)...Led the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) with a .487 batting average and 103 runs scored while setting the school record with 111 hits in 2017...2017 NJCAA Player of the Year and ABCA Gold Glove second baseman...Transferred to Texas A&M in 2018 and was Second-Team All-SEC in 2018...Was teammates with current Chicago White Sox OF Zach DeLoach and INF Braden Shewmake...Nicknamed "Mayo" or "The Big Mayonnaise" by his former Twins teammates...Played for the Brazos Valley Bombers in the 2017 Texas Collegiate Summer League...Tied for the league lead in home runs...Has two cousins who played fullback and were members of two separate Nebraska Cornhuskers National Championship squads: Joel Makovicka (1997) and Jeff Makovicka (1994)...Joel went on to play for the Arizona Cardinals (1999-2003)...Used to work maintenance on a golf course...Signing scout was Greg Runser (Twins)...He and his wife, Allie, have a son, Beckham (July 2023) and reside in Bryan, Texas.

2024

Was a non-roster invite to Twins Major League Spring Training, but missed the entire schedule on the injured list with a left hamstring strain...Began the season on the St. Paul (AAA) roster and was the starting shortstop leading off on Opening Day...Has his contract selected by Minnesota on Sept. 1 when OF Manny Margot was placed on the injured list...Made MLB debut two days later at Tropicana Field (9/3) and was the starting right fielder...Collected first Major League hit with a fifth inning lead-off infield single off Jeffrey Springs...Appeared in nine games total, but only started his debut...Played at third base and all three outfield positions, as well as making pinch-hit and pinch-run appearances, over his nine Major League games...Had two stints on the Minor League seven-day injured list, both with a left hamstring strain (4/13-27 - 14 games and 6/17- 8/10 - 43 games)...Appeared at six different positions during the season in St. Paul (31 - SS; 19 CF; 12 - 3B; 4 - LF; 3 - 2B; 1 RF)...Homered in three straight games (5/16-18) the longest home run streak of his professional career...Smacked his sixth career multi-home run game on June 13 at Louisville...Had a positive reverse split batting .301 (58-193, 12 HR) off right-handers and .217 (20-92, 2 HR) off left-handers.

2023

Named 26th best prospect in Twins organization to start 2023 by Baseball America...Was an invite to Twins Spring Training, the first of career but was limited during exhibition season battling left hamstring strain...Began season on Triple-A St. Paul’s seven-day injured list with a left hamstring strain...Played in five games for Low-A Fort Myers on rehab assignment from April 19-23 and reinstated April 24...Made Triple-A debut on April 25 at Rochester, hitting second career grand slam and recording fifth professional multi-homer game with Minor League career-high six RBI...Hit .359 (23-for-64) with a .468 on-base percentage, a .703 slugging percentage and a 1.171 OPS in 17 games between Fort Myers and St. Paul before landing on injured list...Reached safely in 16 of those 17, including 15-straight from April 20-May 11...Placed on seven-day IL on May 12 with dislocated left shoulder (subluxation)...Transferred to 60-day IL on June 21...Played in six games for Double-A Wichita on rehab assignment and reinstated from IL on Sept. 3...A Made return in September and finished season playing in 15 games for Saints from Sept. 5-24, hitting .270 (17-for-63) with 12 RBI, 12 runs scored and a .721 OPS...Hit third professional grand slam and second of season on Sept. 22 vs. Toledo...Hit .313 (10-for-32) vs. left-handed pitching and .299 (35-for-117) vs. right-handed pitching...Defensively at both levels combined during season played 10 games (all starts) at shortstop, six games (five starts) at third base, five games (all starts) in left field and four games (all starts) in center field...Played in 15 games for Licey in Dominican Winter League, following the season, where one of his hitting coaches was Twins’ Minor League coordinator of instruction Edgar Varela.

2022

Began season with Double-A Wichita...Hit safely in season-long 11-straight games for Wind Surge from May 1-20....A Promoted to Triple-A St. Paul on May 31...was slashing .278/.367/.472 for Wind Surge at time of promotion and ranked ninth in the Texas League in runs scored (34)....Tied a career high with three walks July 3 vs. Omaha....Stole 13th base with Saints on July 9, breaking a St. Paul franchise record, passing Royce Lewis’ previous record of 12 in 2022....Recorded a career-high five hits (five PA), career-high-tying two home runs and four runs, finishing a triple shy of the cycle Aug. 2 at Omaha...Stole a Triple-A season-high-tying and franchise record four bases Aug. 27 at Iowa....Combined to hit .258 (132-for-512) with 23 doubles, three triples, 29 home runs, 60 RBI, 101 runs scored and 40 stolen bases in 135 games between both levels....Ranked tied for eighth in the International League in stolen bases (30), despite just 96 games played for Saints....Led all Twins Minor Leaguers in games (135), runs scored (101), second in hits (132), third in stolen bases (40) and fifth in home runs (20)....Named 28th-best prospect in Twins organization by MLB.com

2021

Named Twins minor league Player of the Week on Aug. 1, after hitting .423 (11-for-26) with one double, one triple, two home runs, three RBI, four walks and a 1.269 OPS for High-A Cedar Rapids...played 16 games for Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League, hitting .216 (11-for-51) with seven stolen bases and nine walks.

2020

Did not play professionally; minor league season cancelled due to COVID-19.

2019

Spent entire season with High-A Fort Myers...placed on 7-day Injured List July 22 with right forearm fracture and did not return...ranked fourth on Mighty Mussels in games (82) and fifth in at-bats (284).

2018

Began professional career with Rookie-Elizabethton and played in 12 games for the E-Twins before being promoted to Low-A Cedar Rapids August 6...combined to hit .361 (53-for-147) with a .919 OPS in 39 games between both levels...named Twins MiLB.com organizational All-Star.