Press Pass | Betsy Helfand of the Pioneer Press Discusses the Twins' Surprising Start, Covering Minor League Baseball in Las Vegas, and Rocco Baldelli

Betsy Helfand is the beat writer for the Minnesota Twins at the St. Paul Pioneer Press. In the past, she’s worked for MLB.com and covered minor league baseball (and other things) in Las Vegas for the Review-Journal. She chatted with The Big Lead about her path through the industry, the Twins’ story of success, and more. 

Liam McKeone: Hi Betsy, thanks for taking some time to chat today. It’s your first year as the Twins strongeat writer for the Pioneer Press, so descristronge how you ended up there and how the gig is treating you so far.

Betsy: Okay, so I went to the University of Minnesota, and I majored in journalism there. I worked at the student newspaper, Minnesota Daily, for all four years, and covered pretty much every sport there was there. A little strongit of everything, including strongasestrongall and softstrongall. Basestrongall was always what I knew I wanted to cover. After my senior year, I did the MLB.com internship, and that was a really great experience. That took me astrongout to the strongeginning of Octostronger, and I was freelancing for a while, looking for my next step. I didn’t think I was going to wind up taking another internship strongecause I had done three or four of them at that time, strongut I decided to take one in Las Vegas at the Review-Journal, covering a Triple-A team [the Las Vegas 51s], just for three months. I went out there and did that and it turned into a full-time jostrong.

So I was doing Triple-A baseball, the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate, and whatever sports came into town. I was there for about three years. Around the time the major league season was ending, the Twins beat writer at the Pioneer Press got a new job and he was leaving. I had interned for them when I was in college, so my former editor reached out to say he was leaving and gauge my interest in it, and we went from there. I was pretty interested; Minnesota was a place I had been pretty familiar with, and it was a very exciting opportunity. So far, everything’s been great. The team has obviously been really good and that’s been really fun to cover. It’s been a really enjoyable experience so far.

McKeone: What was your experience like as a reporter covering minor-league baseball?

Helfand: It was interesting because I don’t think a lot of papers cover Triple-A teams as extensively as we did in Las Vegas, because not as many people are interested or there’s a lack of resources to do so. That was a really good experience because we covered every single game, and we were basically doing it like we were covering a major league team: pregame notes, features, and a game story every day.

Triple-A is an interesting level because you got a lot of guys going back and forth who don’t necessarily want to be there, and then you’ve got some prospects who just came up from Double-A who are excited to be at the next step in their journey. It was really fun because I got to see a bunch of the young Mets who are now playing for the Mets and making an impact. It was a fun level to cover.

McKeone: How did you navigate that mishmash of personalities in the clubhouse as you tried to do your job as a journalist?

Helfand: Luckily, even if they were frustrated to be there, nobody ever outwardly showed that to me. Everyone was pretty good to me. So that was nice on my end. But it was interesting because last year, there were a couple of guys who, just after a game, just retired. There was one guy, he gave up 12 or 14 runs or something, and after the game, the manager just said, “He’s done. He retired.” It’s kind of shocking and not what you’re expecting. So that was a little weird. But everyone was generally pretty good to deal with.

McKeone: Was there anything in particular that stood out to you when you were working as a GA [General Assignment] reporter?

Helfand: It was just a pretty good experience to do a bunch of other things. I did some curling, which I found to be kind of fun. And Las Vegas is an interesting place because a lot of things roll through there. So I did the rodeo, which was definitely something I had no experience with, so that was kind of a different world to be thrown into. Same with NASCAR. I helped out with NASCAR coverage a couple of times. Some college basketball, and a little bit of college football, rugby… It was just interesting getting a different look at everything that was going on.

McKeone: Transitioning to the Twins, Jake Odorizzi has had a stellar season. What do you think he changed from last year to this year to become a top pitcher in the league?

Helfand: It was interesting because Jake… I think he only pitched once at the main field during spring training. So we didn’t get a good chance to look at him during spring. He had come in and had gone to the Florida Baseball Ranch, he said he went twice a week starting in October. He went down there and was working really hard this offseason. He came in and he said mechanically he felt better than he had all of last year. He felt really good.

The one outing he did make at Hammond Stadium on the main field, he kind of got rocked. He was like, “I’m not worried about it. I’m not concerned. It doesn’t mean much to me.” He went down and got his work in on the minor league side, so we didn’t see much of that. He comes up and he’s been spectacular this whole year and he keeps saying he feels better mechanically now than he did at any point last season. It’s the product of that hard work he put in this offseason.

McKeone: Rocco Baldelli has had, to say the least, a great rookie season as a manager so far. From your perspective, how is he contributing to the team’s success?

Helfand: One of the things Rocco did at the winter meetings, someone asked him what a Rocco Baldelli-managed team was going to look like. And he said something to the effect of, “I want them to be having fun and be loose and comfortable. Because if you’re not, you’re not going to see the results you’re looking for.” I think a lot of what he’s brought is that type of environment. There’s a lot of emphasis on rest and recovery, so a lot of days where guys get a day off and days where they don’t take batting practice.

Even during the spring, sometimes he’d tell them to just go home and get rest. A lot of emphasis on that and keeping them ready and comfortable… You’ve got the interpreter sitting on the bench now, moving from the press box to the bench so he can help make sure there’s good communication. Nelson Cruz wanted a nap room, Rocco was all in for that too. Making sure these guys are as comfortable as they are is a big part of what he’s brought.

McKeone: Their series win against Tampa Bay in Tampa is being seen as a benchmark victory for the squad by baseball fans and pundits. Is it being viewed the same way within the clubhouse?

Helfand: This is a pretty confident group, so I would say it’s not just beating Tampa Bay that made them feel that way. It’s a product of all the work they’ve put in. From the outset, the beginning of spring training, they thought they were gonna be a pretty good team. I think there have been a couple series… they won 3 out of 4 against Houston, I don’t think a couple series are validating to them what they are doing. The work they put in, they’ve seen those results all year. Outwardly, people are starting to come around, but inside the clubhouse, they’ve been feeling pretty high on themselves since the spring.

McKeone: Is the team willing to be active at the trade deadline and potentially take on more salary in the pursuit of a deep playoff run?

Helfand: I think so. That’s the sense I’ve gotten. Obviously, bullpen is an area they’re going to look at. They’ve got one lefty out there now, Tyler Rogers, who has been lights out this season. But going after another lefty to add to the bullpen might be something they’d look at. They see this as a good opportunity and they’ll be aggressive enough to make any moves they can make at the trade deadline.

McKeone: For those not as familiar with the Twins’ minor-league system, are there any guys we should be keeping an eye on who could make an impact down the road?

Helfand: Well, they’ve got two top-10 prospects in Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff. Neither of them are gonna be up soon. They’re still pretty young. But those are two to keep an eye on. Top 15 prospect Brusdar Graterol has been really good this season. He’s out right now with shoulder pain, but he’s been really good at AA. Those are three guys coming through the system, but you’re still looking at a year or two for them.

McKeone: What’s been your favorite ballpark to visit this year on the beat, and overall as a fan?

Helfand: This is going to sound a little biased, but I really like Target Field [Minneapolis]. It’s beautiful. You’ve got a great view of the skyline, it’s right downtown. I really like ballparks that are accessible by public transportation. So I like Target Field. I liked Citizen’s Bank [Philadelphia] and Citi Field [New York], we saw those this year. Aside from Target Field, maybe SafeCo [now T-Mobile Park in Seattle] is probably my favorite I’ve seen this year.

Overall, PNC in Pittsburgh is the prettiest park in the league. So far I’ve been to 29 out of 30, and that was the one that affects me the most. 

McKeone: Which one are you missing?

Helfand: The new Atlanta one. I was at 30 of 30, but that [new stadium] dropped me down. I was really bummed, though, because this is the year the AL Central is playing the NL East in interleague play, but the Braves are coming to Minnesota.

McKeone: Favorite place to eat in Minneapolis?

Helfand: Hm. When I was in college, my favorite place to eat was called Urban Eatery, a place in uptown, I really liked that. There’s a place called 112 Eatery in downtown Minneapolis that’s a favorite of mine too. Those are probably my two favorite.

McKeone: Your favorite interviewee, either with the Twins or at your past positions?

Helfand: That’s an interesting one… In terms of the Twins, they’ve got a couple really good talkers. Kyle Gibson is really good to talk to, pretty insightful and always around to give you a quote or two if you need them. There are a bunch of guys in Triple-A. The Triple-A manager I covered last year was pretty funny, Tony DeFrancesco. Would kind of throw in random things here and there, so he was fun to cover.

McKeone: What’s something about being a sports journalist most people don’t realize?

Helfand: I guess I would say… this is an interesting one… I guess I would say a lot of people come to me and they’re like “Oh, your job is so fun, it must be so fun being paid to go watch baseball.” And they’re right! That is fun. Everyone who does this job does it because they love baseball.

It’s also a lot of work, a lot of long days. The travel can make it kind of exhausting. And travel is one of, if not my favorite part of the job. I think people think you go to a game, have fun talking to players, then you go home. But some of the other things that go into it make it more exhausting than some people think.

McKeone: What do you wish you knew when you were just starting out?

Hefland: Everybody had told me, “Do internships, do internships, do internships.” And that was really good advice because, you know, my job in Las Vegas started off as an internship, my job here started off as an internship. That’s pretty important. I was lucky; the MLB.com internship was some of the best experience I could have gotten, and they discontinued that, which I was sad to see. I was lucky to be able to do that, and this is kind of cliché, but just doing internships and make as many connections in the industry as you can. Branching out, talking to as many people as you can, getting any advice from them would be pretty helpful too.

I had done a couple [internships] with papers and then the MLB.com one in college, so after I graduated I was like, “I don’t want to do another one”, you know? I’ve already done a few internships. But doing that [post-grad] internship is what led me to everything afterward. I understand why everyone wants to go straight to full-time jobs after they graduate, but, and this goes back to your last question too, it’s not such an easy industry to break into. A lot of the jobs people want, they’re just not available. [You should be] doing anything you can to give yourself a head start, so to speak.