Denny Hocking is the Twins current utility man. He took over for Jeff Reboulet in 1997 who took over for Al Newman in 1992. Think about that for a minute. Since 1987, the Twins have employed just three players as their "utility man". This continuity is both a good and bad thing for the Twins. On the positive side, the Twins are covered in a pinch whenever a player gets injured or needs a day off with a reliable player that who possesses the manager's confidence. On the negative side, the manager will occassionally become infatuated with the utility man and give him way too much playing time. You see, when Denny Hocking is amassing less than 150 plate appearances in a season, I am perfectly satisfied, but when he comes to the plate over 400 times (like in 1999 and 2000), the team has a huge offensive zero sucking up outs by the hundreds.
Two years ago during the Twins surprising run at the start of the year, my mother told me (I'm paraphrasing because I cannot remember the exact quote), "Denny Hocking is the worst player I have ever seen. Why does he keep getting to play?" I quickly rushed to defend Hocking's role on the team and would rub it in her face whenever he succeeded. Sadly, after being thrust into a fulltime role after Cristian Guzman's injury, Denny was a main factor in the team's terrible second-half performance. Since that time, Denny has never again received consistent playing time.
If there is one thing that Denny could do, it is mash lefthanded pitching. In fact, I was pleased to see Denny in the lineup in Game 5 against the A's during last season's ALDS when Mark Mulder was on the mound. His catch to conclude the game was definitely one of the happiest moments I can recall in my life, and I originally thought the injury he suffered during the celebration was another of his practical jokes. Unfortunately, he was unable to play in the ALCS.
I just mentioned Denny's propensity for jokes, and he is definitely the Major League player who provides the best one-liners. His criticisms of Bud Selig brought joy to my heart, the same heart Bud has worked so tirelessly to destroy. Finally, Denny has earned the nickname the Rebel because he bleached his hair during the 2001 season as a tribute to his idol, the aptly named Billy Idol. Following the 2001 season, Denny held an online chat on ESPN.com and fielded a question from yours truly. If you go to the chat, you will find that his favorite Billy Idol song is "Rebel Yell" because, as Denny said, "I'm such a rebel." Thus, I did not give him the nickname, I am just enforcing his view of himself.
