PHILADELPHIA – When A.J. Pierzysnki was the same age that Christian Bethancourt is now (23), Pierzysnki spent most of the season with Twins minor league teams, while Minnesota’s big-league team played catchers Matt LeCroy and Marcus Jensen through mid-June, then brought up Chad Moeller from Triple-A to share catching duties with Jensen.
Pierzynski was a third-round draft pick who began his pro career at 17, spent nearly six seasons in the minors before getting brief callups with the Twins in 1998 and 1999, and hit .313 with 42 extra-base hits in 103 minor-league games in 2000 before Minnesota brought him up in mid-August and made him the primary catcher the rest of the way.