The Twins New #1

Before joining the Twins, Tsuyoshi Nishioka was one of the few active switch hitters in Japanese professional baseball. He played in the 2006 World Baseball Classic as well as the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a member of the Japanese national team. However, despite being just 26 years old, he has also established a reputation as somewhat of an injury-prone player.

Nishioka has many attributes that make him a skilled shortstop, including quick reflexes, soft hands and an exceptional throwing arm (he clocked 142 km/h (88 mph) in his first pitch in an informal pre-game contest in 2006). He has some of the best range of any Japanese shortstop; though he has logged time at second base earlier in his career and can man both middle infield positions quite proficiently, manager Bobby Valentine has played him almost exclusively at shortstop since 2006 to lessen the stress placed on his lower body.

Read more about Nishioka on his Wikipedia page here.