RON MARINACCIO REFUSES TO GO AWAY

I always liked Ron Marinaccio.

Maybe it was because he felt like one of our guys. A 19th-round Yankees draft pick who wasn't supposed to become much of anything, Marinaccio simply kept pitching his way up the ladder until suddenly he was standing on the mound in the Bronx getting big-league hitters out.

And getting them out pretty damn well, too.

As a rookie in 2022, Marinaccio posted a 2.05 ERA in 40 appearances, striking out 56 in 44 innings. Opponents hit just .149 against him. For a while there, the kid from Toms River looked like another bullpen steal the Yankees had dug out of nowhere.

But baseball careers rarely travel in straight lines. Since leaving New York, Marinaccio's journey has looked more like somebody dropped the GPS in a blender. San Diego. Pittsburgh. Cincinnati. Waivers. DFA. Another opportunity. Another DFA.

And now, Minnesota. The Twins signed Marinaccio to a minor-league deal after he elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment from Cincinnati. His 2026 numbers aren't pretty — a 6.09 ERA overall — but his career ERA still sits at 3.98 over 183 major-league innings.

So maybe there's still something there.

That's what resilience looks like in baseball. It's not always some dramatic Hollywood comeback. Sometimes it's getting punched in the mouth, packing another suitcase and saying, OK, who's got a baseball? I loved Marinaccio when he was a Yankee, and I'm rooting for him now.

He's still got another inning in him. Go get 'em, Ron.