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Rarely does a minor league playoff race make news beyond the local papers. But there’s an exception to every rule, and when a pitch-tipping scandal interferes with that race, it suddenly becomes nationally relevant.
The Minnesota Twins released 2024 MLB Draft pick Derek Bender just three months after taking him in the sixth round when they learned he tipped pitches to opposing hitters.
Bender, a catcher out of Coastal Carolina, was playing for the Twins’ Single-A affiliate, the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. Fort Myers had already been eliminated from the Florida State League playoff race, but their opponent over the weekend, the Lakeland Flying Tigers, had not. Bender told multiple Lakeland hitters what pitches Fort Myers pitcher Ross Dunn would throw in the second game of a doubleheader played Saturday, September 7. Lakeland won the game, 6-0 to clinch the Florida State League West Division.
Lakeland coaches notified Fort Myers coaches of Bender’s actions after the game, and sources tell ESPN that there is no indication of wrongdoing on Lakeland’s part.
Sources also claimed to ESPN that Bender told teammates that “he wanted the season to be over.”
In 19 games for Fort Myers, Bender slashed .200/.273/.333. ESPN reports he will keep his entire $297,500 signing bonus.
Bender has yet to comment publicly on the scandal.
Derek Bender Was A Power Hitting Prospect
While Bender’s baseball future is murky at best, he was a legit MLB prospect before last weekend. He did not appear on any lists of the best players in Minnesota’s system, but as a sixth-round pick, he came to the organization with real promise as a power hitter.
Before his collegiate career, he was the No. 3 catching prospect in South Carolina in 2021, per Perfect Game. After playing sporadically as a freshman, he broke out as a sophomore for Coastal Carolina.
Bender hit double-digit home runs as a sophomore and junior with the Chanticleers and the Twins drafted him as a catcher and first baseman. MLB.com’s scouting report says his “swing is designed to crank home runs to his pull side.”
“Scouts wonder how much power he’ll produce against better pitching,” the report cautioned. “He generates his pop more with strength than bat speed and frequently chases pitches out of the strike zone. He does make a lot of hard contact and showed improved plate discipline while on the Cape and again this spring.”
MLB Continues to Crack Down on Cheating
While most cheating scandals in baseball center around a player or team trying to gain a competitive advantage — not cede one, MLB has made it clear that it will not tolerate anything that sacrifices the integrity of the game.
USA Today ran a series about cheating in sports in 2023 and explored MLB’s sprawling enforcement system. In it, then-Orioles outfielder Austin Hays argued players aren’t even trying to cheat anymore because they know they can’t get away with it.
“They do a lot to uphold the integrity of the game and make sure guys aren’t cheating,” he said of MLB’s enforcement arms. “They put a lot of time and effort and employees into doing that. There’s really not anybody trying anymore.
“It’s why you don’t see guys getting suspended or popped for stuff. There’s such an emphasis on it and already so many people around, enforcing it.”
The feature also explores the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal and the fallout as players and fans alike had a renewed interest in keeping cheating out of baseball.
“I think everyone is afraid after what happened in Houston,” Kolten Wong told the outlet. “Nobody wants to be a part of something like that and have that reputation.
“You live with that forever.”
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