Ex-Twins minor-league catcher denies giving away pitches

Former Minnesota Twins minor-league catcher Derek Bender denied allegations he told opposing hitters what pitches were coming in order to lose a game.

"I'll live with this until the day I die. I never gave pitches away," Bender told The Athletic's Sam Blum. "I never tried to give the opposing team an advantage against my own team."

Major League Baseball is investigating Bender for allegedly telling multiple hitters for the Lakeland Flying Tigers what pitch to expect during the second game of a Sept. 6 doubleheader, according to Blum. Bender was playing for the Single-A Fort Myers Mighty Mussels at the time.

Bender is accused of wanting his team to lose to miss the playoffs and end what he described as a tiring season.

The 22-year-old would face a permanent ban if MLB finds he violated the rules, though he could apply for reinstatement after one year.

Bender admitted he joked with teammates about wanting the campaign to end but insisted he'd never intentionally throw a game.

"A lot of us are coming off of college seasons, coming off of a pretty grueling summer schedule," Bender said. "Then you get there, and you're hitting .200, you're facing some of the best stuff consistently you've ever seen. You're sinking or swimming, and you're pretty close to sinking.

"The conversations are that everybody's ready to go home."

Bender was released a week after the allegations surfaced. He said the Twins offered to keep him in the organization if he admitted to wrongdoing and apologized. Bender said he apologized but couldn't come up with a reason for his apology when asked by the club.

The sixth-round pick of the 2024 MLB Draft will play for the Brockton Rox of the Frontier League this summer after appearing in just 19 games in the Twins organization.