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Derek Bender, who made his professional debut
last year with the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels was accused of
telling opposing hitters the specific pitches that were being
thrown during a game on Sept. 6 that eliminated Minnesota's
Class-A affiliate from contention for the Florida State League
playoffs. ESPN, citing unnamed sources, reported then that Fort
Myers coaches were informed after the game by their opponent,
the Lakeland Flying Tigers, a farm club for Detroit.
I'll live with this until the day I die. I never gave pitches
away, Bender told The Athletic for a story published on
Thursday. I never tried to give the opposing team an advantage
against my own team.
Major League Baseball has been investigating the situation,
according to The Athletic. After Bender, a sixth-round draft
pick in 2024 out of Coastal Carolina, was released by the Twins
on Sept. 12, ESPN in its report said Bender had told teammates
he wanted the season to be over.
Bender told The Athletic he was exhausted at that point of the
year but that he was joking about tanking to try to ensure
defeat.
A lot of us are coming off of college seasons, coming off of a
pretty grueling summer schedule, Bender said in the interview.
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.
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