The story behind Twins closer Jhoan Duran’s fiery entrance song(s) lighting up Target Field

The song-of-summer debate in Minnesota might have ended back in April, at least for Twins fans.

No song is firing up audiences more regularly in the Twin Cities in the summer of 2024 than the entrance music that plays every time Twins closing pitcher Jhoan Duran takes the field.

Never mind that most fans don’t actually know the song’s title or who it’s by — or that it’s actually two songs mixed together.

The torchlit ceremony that Sports Illustrated said “might [be] the best entrance in baseball” kicks off with the heavy bong of a large church bell and a message to fans on the video boards: “Light up your phones.”

The ballpark’s house lights then go dark. A 360-degree array of fiery imagery ignites across Target Field’s LED video screens while fans hold up their cellular flashlights. Finally, the door to the bullpen opens deep in the outfield and out walks Duran, usually at a cool, moderate pace that belies the speed of his 105-mph fastballs and the intensity at which he throws.

As he makes his way to the mound, the 26-year-old slinger from the Dominican Republic comes out strutting to the tune of “El Incomprendido,” a 2021 hit by Puerto Rican rapper Farruko.

Usually by the time he reaches the mound, the music has morphed into another recent hit, “Hot,” by another Puerto Rican rapper, Daddy Yankee, in a collaboration with Miami dance-pop producer Pitbull.

The story behind how those two pieces of music were mixed together is a hybrid tale of modern Latino pop music with a little Minnesota marketing savvy.

“I think this is another sign of how much Latin music has taken over mainstream America,” said DJ Skee, who mixed the two songs for the Twins, “just as Latin American players have become such a big part of Major League Baseball.”

A St. Paul native whose work is heard in sports stadiums all over the world, Skee — aka Scott Keeney — said he still gets excited whenever he gets to mix music for teams from Minnesota after two decades of living in Los Angeles. Getting to work on Duran’s entrance was particularly thrilling, he added, but it came with its challenges.

“It’s not a typical entrance song or audio moment for a stadium,” the DJ said.

“It had to be perfectly timed from the moment the lights go down to when he’s walking out on the mound, and the two songs had to come together in just the right way.”

There’s an explanation for why two songs were used, and not just one.

Turns out, Duran liked the idea of using the Farruko song for his grand entrance, but the dad and family man got hung up on the subject matter of “El Incomprendido.” Lyrics in the song — the title translates to “The Misunderstood” — refer to smoking a hookah and drinking tequila.

“He questioned whether it fit with what he stands for,” recounted Dustin Morse, the Twins’ vice president of communications. “He was involved and had input.”

It was Morse who thought of recruiting Skee to combine the Farruko song with the Daddy Yankee hit, and thus mix out the questionable lyrics. He cheered the work done from there by a wide variety of the Twins front-office staff that oversees entertainment at the ballpark, including game-day experience director Sam Henschen.

Morse said they were savvy enough to start brainstorming the moment midway through the 2022 season even before Duran became the Twins’ go-to closer. It didn’t catch on until late in the 2023 season, though, nicely coinciding with the team’s use of a new 57-foot-tall, 13-million-LED video scoreboard.

“It was looking good that Duran was going to become the closer — and a very electric-type of closer at that — so we had to be ready,” Morse said.

Before Duran, there’s been a long tradition of Twins closers getting their own musical entrance, including Glen Perkins (Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”), Eddie Guardado (AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”) and Joe Nathan (“Stand Up and Shout” from the “Rock Star” soundtrack).

As is always the case with closing pitchers, attendees at Target Field are not guaranteed to experience Duran’s fiery walk-on at every game. He’s usually called in from the bullpen only when games are close in runs going into the eighth or ninth innings.

Asked about his entrance music in May when the Twins gave away Duran bobbleheads, the pitcher simply said to the Star Tribune, “I like the bells. It’s my favorite part.”

The idea for the deep church bell bongs was taken from another dangerous sports figure: WWE wrestler the Undertaker.

Morse said Duran has been more effusive to Twins staff about the positive impact this entrance music has had on his psyche at what are often pivotal moments in games.

“After the first few times we did it, he joked that he got a couple extra miles per hour on his fastball out of it,” Morse said.

A proud Dominican, Duran also reportedly appreciates the fact that Latino musical artists are being used for his entrance.

Daddy Yankee is especially popular among MLB players, in part because he also happens to be a former MLB prospect who tried out for the Seattle Mariners. Twins players got to meet him before a game against the White Sox in Chicago in 2022.

In that game, Duran made a big impact on the mound, while Twins infielders Carlos Correa and Jose Miranda (both from Puerto Rico) had big hits at the plate. Afterward, Correa played up “the Daddy Yankee effect” to the Star Tribune: “He was here, and we did that. … Maybe we did it for him,” the shortstop said.

Morse said Duran “still tells us often he loves it, and his kids love it. And Correa says it still gives him goosebumps every night.”

As for the DJ who pulled off Duran’s song mix, Skee recently got to see one of the closer’s flaming entrances while visiting family in Minnesota and making it to a game at Target Field.

“It gave me chills,” he said, underlining the cultural significance of the moment.

“It doesn’t seem at all out of the ordinary having these songs from Latin music artists play so prominently in a ballpark in Minnesota in the year 2024.”