Dec 13: McCusker has signed a one-year contract with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, per Francys Romero of Beisbol FR.
Dec 10: The Twins have placed outfielder Carson McCusker on unconditional release waivers, per Dan Hayes of The Athletic. McCusker is expected to play in Asia next year, though no details have been provided about the specific country or team he is headed to. For the Twins, their 40-man roster count drops to 39, just hours before the Rule 5 draft. That means they could now be in position to make a selection in that draft.
McCusker, 28 in May, was a bit of a feel-good story for the Twins in 2025. He went undrafted out of college and wound up in indy ball in 2021 and 2022. The Twins then signed him and he worked his way up the ladder to the majors. He was sent up to the plate 30 times over 16 appearances. His .172/.200/.172 line was not impressive in that small sample but he was surely delighted just to make it to the show after not even being in affiliated ball a few years prior.
His minor league track record is greater in quantity and quality. From 2023 to 2025, he stepped to the plate 1,146 times across various levels of the farm. His 32.1% strikeout was quite high but he hit 55 home runs and slashed .265/.335/.494 for a wRC+ of 119.
If McCusker had stayed in with the Twins, he likely would have spent the majority of 2026 in the minors. Minnesota’s outfield mix currently consists of Byron Buxton, Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner, James Outman, Alan Roden, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Gabriel Gonzalez, Hendry Mendez as well as infield/outfield types like Austin Martin, Kody Clemens and Ryan Kreidler. Prospect Walker Jenkins isn’t on the 40-man yet but has reached Triple-A and should be in the mix soon.
By heading overseas, he will presumably lock in a bigger guarantee and a more regular opportunity to showcase his abilities. If he succeeds in this new venture, he could parlay that into a return to North America or further opportunities in other leagues.
Photo courtesy of Matt Krohn, Imagn Images
Sad to see him go even though he barely played I enjoyed seeing him on the team and I was hoping to see him develop more power at the big league level.
Maybe he will be back in a few years after figuring it out overseas
oh – I dunno, if the band goes on an extended world tour he could be gone a long, long time.
I am looking forward to his contributions when performing “Heat Of The Moment”.
Although we’ve come
To the end of the road
Still I can’t let go
It’s unnatural
You belong to me
I belong to you
6’8 250 this dude will look like shaq at the plate in those Asian leagues
Twins move to Asia? Aur Revoir
Opportunity in Asia as wot the keyboardist- kudos his Wildest Dream come true Only Time Will Tell if it all works out
I also pursued a few opportunities in Asia specifically Thailand. Check for adams apples would be my advice.
Yes! Especially in Thailand. Lol.
“Asia” isn’t a country or a league.
McCusker, that’s quite the name. Sounds pretty cool to be honest.
Looks like Rakuten is going to be getting more offense than keeping Oscar Gonzalez around.
Seems like a lot of players have headed to Japan and Korea. I suspect the incentives are getting better in both countries.
Reasoning for going to NPB/KBO are becoming more viable as players are having success after coming back from NPB/KBO and we have some that are former CPBL talents (Dylan Covey, Ryan Weiss)
Twins are relocating to Asia?