Who is Alex Wimmers? Twins 1st round pick

The Twins select RHP Alex Wimmers from OSU with their first round pick of the 2010 MLB amateur draft.



Alex is a 6'2" 195 lbs RHP, who is a Junior in the Ohio State University, born on 11/01/1988 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Low 90s fastball, good curve and a very good change up.

Here is his OSU profile, here is a scouting report, here is an additional scouting report, a scouting report and video, his MLB.com scouting video, and a video interview. Four mock drafts, including Baseball America and ESPN's Keith Law, predicted that the Twins will draft him. BA in their draft blog compares him to Brad Radke and Kevin Slowey. Another scouting report, an earlier Baseball America article about Wimmers, and an additional report with some caution about injuries.









More information tomorrow and expect live blogging with every Twins draft pick and equal amount of information given for each pick. After the draft is done, I will post a summary with opinions about signability of each pick and review how they fit the Twins' needs.

Wimmers is very signable.

2010 MLB draft: 26 Left Hand Pitchers you should know

Earlier this week, I presented a list of 34 middle infield prospects for the 2010 MLB draft. An additional, and more pressing need for the Twins organization that will be addressed in the 2010 MLB Amateur draft, is left hand pitchers and especially starters. Here is an alphabetic list of 26 LHP of note, eligible for the 2010 draft. One or more of these, could be drafted by the Twins. There are links to player profiles, statistics, scouting reports and videos, as well as different articles and interviews when I could find them. The list consists of shortstops and second basemen, however, some of these players project to play at third base in the next level. All links open pages on a new window/tab so you do not have to navigate away from this page and then get back.


Mitch Beacom 6-8, 240. UCLA. His player profile and a youtube game video.

Jesse Biddle 6-5, 220, Germantown Friends HS, PA. Scouting report, scouting video, a video story from Comcast SportsNet and his MLB.com scouting video.

Kevin Chapman 6-4. 210, University of Florida. His Baseball Cube stats page, his profile and an article.

Kevin Gelinas 6-5, 235, University of California, Santa Barbara. His profile, an interview, and a brief article.

Kyle Hald 6-0, 200, Old Dominion University. His 2010 stats from College Splits and his profile.

Bryan Harper 6-5, 190 . Bryce Harper's (projected #1 overall pick) older brother. His MLB.com scouting video and another scouting video.

Jimmy Hodgskin 6-2, 185. Bishop Moore HS, FL. His profile, a youtube game video and an article.

Thomas Keeling 6-3, 184. Oklahoma State University. His profile and his MLB.com scouting video.

Mike Kickham 6-4, 201. Missouri State University. His profile and his bio.

Adam Liberatore 6-3, 210. Tennessee Tech. His profile, and his stats from College Splits.

Bryan Morgado 6-3, 203. Tennessee. His MLB.com scouting video, an article, his 2010 stats and his bio.

Griffin Murphy 6-3, 195. Redlands East Valley HS, CA. His MLB.com scouting video, an additional scouting video, his profile and a Baseball America writeup

James Paxton 6-4, 220. Kentucky. First round (supplemental) draft pick by Toronto in 2009, decided to return in college, and was in a legal battle with NCAA resulting to his withdrawal from College. His bio, His 2009 MLB.com draft page, and a mini scouting report.

Drew Pomeranz 6-5, 230. University of Mississippi. Scouting report, scouting report and video, his MLB.com scouting video, and stats, scouting report and game-by-game tracker.

Robbie Ray 6-3, 185, Brentwood HS, TN. His profile, and his MLB.com scouting video.

Rob Rasmussen 5-11, 180, UCLA. A scouting video, scouting report, an interview, his MLB.com scouting video, his wikipedia page (not many of the players drafted in 2010 have one of those), and his profile.

Tanner Robles 6-2, 205, Oregon State. His profile.

Chris Sale6-7, 185, Florida Gulf Coast University. A scouting report, another scouting report and video by a pro scout, and his MLB.com scouting video.

Sammy Solis 6-5, 228, University of San Diego. A compilation of reports, his MLB.com scouting video, and a Sporting News story.

Jordan Shipers 5-11, 165, South Harrison HS, MO. A scouting video, and his profile.

Drew Smyly 6-3, 190, University of Arkansas. A story, and his profile.

Cody Wheeler6-0, 170, Coastal Carolina University. His profile, an article, and his MLB.com scouting video.

Bennett Whitmore6-3, 215, University of Oregon. His profile.

Sam Wilson6-1, 195, El Dorado HS, NM. His profile, and an article

Austin Wright6-4, 220, Conant HS, IL. His profile and video, an interview, and his MLB.com scouting video.

Kevin Ziomek6-2, 180, Armhest Regional HS, MA. A scouting report, scouting video, and and article with a video about his delivery.

In addition to these 26 lefties, Here is the list of the top 75 LHP College prospects from Baseball Draft Report.

The next segment will be live blogging coverage of the draft starting Monday that will include descriptions and profiles of the Twins' picks.

2010 MLB draft: 34 middle infielders you should know

As I indicated yesterday, middle infield is one of the needs for the Twins that will be addressed in the 2010 MLB Amateur draft. Here is an alphabetic list of 34 middle infielders of note, eligible for the 2010 draft. Almost certainly one or more of these, will be drafted by the Twins. There are links to player profiles, statistics, scouting reports and videos, as well as different articles and interviews when I could find them. The list consists of shortstops and second basemen, however, some of these players project to play at third base in the next level. All links open pages on a new window/tab so you do not have to navigate away from this page and then get back.


Zach Alvord 5-11, 170. South Forsyth HS, GA. A scouting video and his profile.

Ryan Brett 5-8, 170; Highline HS, Seattle, WA. A scouting report and video, and his MLB.com scouting video.

Yordy Cabrera 6-4, 190, Lakeland HS, FL. Scouting report, his MLB.com scouting video and an interview; might move to a corner position. Cabrera was the Twins' first round pick in the Deep Leagues 2010 mock MLB draft.

Nick Castellanos, 6-4, 200, McCarthy High School, Davie, FL. MLB.com scouting video, scouting report and video and a compilation of scouting reports; has been compared to Alex Rodriguez and is another potential player who could move to third base.

Garin Cecchini 6-2, 200. Lake Charles HS, LA. His Profile

Christian Colon, 6-0, 185, Cal State Fullerton. Scouting report, baseball cube stats page(these have only stats up to 2009), an additional scouting reports, his career stats and his game-by-game box score lines can be found here

Kaleb Coward, 6-3, 190. Cook Cty HS, GA. Scouting report, several game videos, and his profile; might be drafted as a pitcher, but expressed the preference to be an infielder in the next level; could move to third base. Coward was the Twins' first round pick in the MLB Bonus Baby, Mack's Mets and Football Fan Spot 2010 mock MLB drafts.

Zach Cox 6-0, 215 lbs. University of Arkansas. His profile, his MLB.com scouting video, an additional scouting reportand a compilation of scouting reports and draft notes.

Delino DeShields Jr. 5-8, 180 Woodward Academy, GA. Former Major Leaguer Delino DeShields' son. His MLB.com scouting video and an interview; highly recruited as a football player, but prefers to play pro baseball.

Derek Dietrich 6-1, 195. Georgia Tech. An interview, his baseball cube stats page, a scouting report and video and several videos at youtube .

Adam Duvall 6-1, 200. Louisville. His profile and a video interview.

Niko Goodrum 6-3, 175. Fayette county HS, Jonesboro, GA. His profile, several videos from his high school home page and his MLB.com scouting video; another player who might eventually move to a corner infield position.

Phil Gosselin 6-1, 185. University of Virginia. His Baseball Cube Stats page, a scouting video, and his profile.

Jedd Gyorko 5-10, 185. West Virginia University. A scouting report, his MLB.com scouting video, and his baseball cube stats page.

Rick Hauge 6-2, 190. Rice University. A scouting report and video and his Baseball Cube stats page; another potential future third baseman.

Jacoby Jones 6-3, 180. Richton High School, MS. His profile, his MLB.com scouting video, and a game video.

Carter Jurica 5-11, 178; Kansas State University. His baseball cube stats page and his 2010 KSU stat sheet (pdf document).

Lonnie Kauppila 6-1, 170. Burbank HS, CA. His profile and a scouting report.

Wade Kirkland 5-10, 180. Florida Southern. His profile.

Jake Lemmerman 6-2, 185. Duke. His Baseball Cube stats page

Devin Lohman 6-1, 185. Long Beach State. His profile and his Baseball Cube stats page.

Matt Lipka 6-1, 192 McKinney HS, Frisco, TX. A Scouting report, and an interview.

Marcus Littlewood 6-3, 190 Pineview HS, UT. His Scouting report, his MLB.com scouting video, an additional scouting report and several game videos from youtube.

Manny Machado 6-2, 180. Brito HS, FL. A scouting report and video, his profile, an additional scouting report, a compilation of scouting reports, and his MLB.com scouting video; another Floridian who drew comparisons to Alex Rodriguez.

Justin O'Conner 6-1, 190. Cowan HS, Muncie, IN. A scouting report and video an additional scouting report, another scouting report, a game video and his MLB.com scouting video. O'Conner was the Twins' first round pick in the 5 Tool Talk 2010 mock MLB draft.

AJ Pettersen 5-9, 160. University of Minnesota. His profile.

Josh Rutledge 6-0, 185. University of Alabama. A scouting report and his MLB.com scouting video.

Tim Smalling 6-2, 209. Virginia Tech. An article

Kellen Sweeney 5-11, 155. Jefferston HS, IA. Current Oakland As' Ryan Sweeney's brother. His MLB.com scouting video and an additional scouting video

Joe Terry 6-0, 180. Cerritos Community College, CA. A Baseball America story

Kolbrin Vitek 6-3, 195. Ball State University. His Baseball Cube Stats page, a scouting report, scouting report and video and his MLB.comscouting video.

Colin Walsh 6-1, 185. Stanford. Baseball Cube stats page

LeVon Washington 5'11", 170. Chipola Junior College. His MLB.com scouting video, a profile, an additional profile and an article; he was Tampa Bay Rays' 1st round pick in 2009 but did not sign; currently a center fielder but projects as a second baseman in professional baseball.

Ross Wilson 5-11, 185. University of Alabama. His Baseball Cube stats page, his MBL.com scouting video, a profile and an article from his Cape Code League days.

Tony Wolters 5-10, 165. Rancho Buena Vista HS, CA. Scouting report and videos, his MLB.com scouting video, an additional scouting report and a youtube game video. Wolters was the Twins' first round pick in the Baseball Draft Report 2010 mock MLB draft.


In addition to these 34 High School and College potential draftees, here are the lists of the top 30 College shortstop and second base prospects from Baseball Draft Report, including mini scouting reports for each of the sixty players listed.

2010 Twins MLB draft: Introduction

As I did last season, I will cover the 2010 MLB Amateur draft in detail. This is what to expect for draft coverage here:

• An introduction (this post) with what I think the Twins' draft needs are and who mock drafts have as the Twins' first round pick for 2010


• A couple of posts before the draft, focusing on potential draftees in the areas of need for the Twins (later this week), including links to profiles, scouting reports and player videos. There will be more that 50 potential draftees presented, so there is a good likelihood that there will be some future Twins in the list


• Live draft coverage on each day of the draft, both with live blogging and on twitter. I will tweet each pick as happens, then I will blog details about the player including scouting reports, projections, videos etc, in this space. You can follow me on twitter @thrylos98, or you can come here and refresh the page often. My tweets will appear on the left hand side of the page, as always. I will do a single post with the details of each draftee and I think that it will be more clear that last year.


• There is still plenty of time, so please let me know whether you want to see anything else

First of all a reminder about what this draft includes: The Rule 4 Draft, or the First-Year Player Draft (all those 3 things are synonyms), includes players who are residents of the U.S., Canada and U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and Minor Outlying Islands. Residents of other countries are not subject to the Rule 4 Draft, but are signed as free agents either when they are young (the majority of Latin American, European, African and Australian players) or when are established (the majority of Japanese players.) Free agents have the ability to negotiate with each team and actually, depending on the perceived value of a player, induce a bidding war for their services. Thus, a lot of Cuban refugees do not take residence in the U.S. or a territory, so they will not be subjected to the amateur draft, but take residence in a Latin American country like Bolivia or Mexico. The minor league draft is a way for organizations to restock their systems.

Looking at the Twins' needs in the draft, they are very similar to last season, with a slight difference: This organization is stocked with right hand pitchers (both starters and relievers), outfielders, even with the departure of 24 year old Carlos Gomez, and Catchers. Ten of my 25 best Twins' hitting prospects this offseason were outfielders, 4 were catchers, 2 third basemen, one first baseman, and six middle infielders. Arguably the stock of most middle infielders in the list (other than Trevor Plouffe) has fallen this season (I treat Sano as a third baseman) and the highest ranked middle infielder in my list was Brian Dozier at number 10, who has been doing very well as a SS in Ft. Myers after his promotion from Beloit this season, but still, middle infield is a place of concern and I think that the Twins should address that in this draft. Another position that could appear concerning (and this is new this season is first base, since there is no heir apparent to Justin Morneau in the organization). Chris Parmelee (my 6th best hitter prospect) is as close as it gets, but there is always the possibility of the Twins converting an outfielder or a catcher to a first baseman, if the need arises, so in some ways, first base is the easiest position to fill, so it is not much of a rear concern. In addition to middle infield, another (and potentially higher) priority should be left hand pitching.

In My list of the top 25 Twins pitching prospects last off-season, only 4 were lefties and from those only Dan Osterbrock (who pitched a no hitter in Beloit before he was promoted to Ft. Myers and struggled, this season) and Tyler Roberston (who has been struggling after his promotion to Rochester) are starters (Matt Bashore and Andrei Lobanov are the relievers). So LHSP is a pressing need and should be addressed as a very high priority.

Here is what different mock drafts project for the Twins' first round pick this season:

Mymlbdraft.com: Austin Wilson, OF, Harvard-Westlake HS, CA.

Draftsite.com: Chevez Clarke, OF, Marietta HS, GA

MLB Scout Buzz: Alex Wimmers, RHP, Ohio State

ESPN's Keith Law (subscription required): Alex Wimmers, RHP, Ohio State

The SportBank.net: Alex Wimmers, RHP, Ohio State

Baseball America : Alex Wimmers, RHP, Ohio State

MLB Bonus Baby:Kaleb Cowart, IF/RHP, Cook County HS, GA

Mack's Mets:Kaleb Cowart, IF/RHP, Cook County HS, GA

The Football Fan Spot:Kaleb Cowart, IF/RHP, Cook County HS, GA

5 Tool Talk: Justin O'Conner SS/RHP, Cowan HS, IN

The Perfect Game: Asher Wojciechowski, RHP, The Citadel

High School Rivals: Asher Wojciechowski, RHP, The Citadel

MLB Fanhouse: A.J. Cole (RHP), Oviedo HS, FL

Baseball Draft Report: Anthony Wolters, INF, Rancho Buena Vista HS, CA

Call to the Pen: Anthony Ranaudo, RHP, Louisiana State University

Prospect Junkies: Bryce Brentz - OF - Middle Tennessee State

Fanspeak: Bryce Brentz - OF - Middle Tennessee State

Deep Leagues: Yordy Cabrera, SS, Lakeland HS, FL

Project Prospect: Brandon Workman, RHP, University of Texas

There are some themes here, but not consensus (as there was expected not to be): a. the need to draft a middle infielder is clear with several suggested as potential top picks for the Twins b. another whole set of mock drafts are looking for Joe Nathan's replacement (most of those RHPs project as closers). What do I think? I think that Joe Rauch has shown that replacing a closer is not something that it extremely hard to do, plus in Neshek, Gutierrez and Slama the Twins have potential closers at the higher levels of the organization who will be under team control for a while. I think that the hardest thing to get is an impact lefty starter and if one falls into the Twins' lap early, they should go for it. Also an impact bat in the middle infield will be nice. There are a few such players in this draft and if, again, someone falls to the Twins pick, like Gibson did last season, I suspect that the Twins will not pass.

As a reminder, no mock draft picked Kyle Gibson for the Twins, last season...

In the next two installments I will be previewing about 35 middle infielders and 20 left hand pitchers.

Who is Hot in the Twins' Minors: Version 3

The third installment of the Who is hot in the Twins' minors, comes a couple of days after the DSL season opener, where Miguel Angel Sano greeted his professional debut by sending the first pitch he saw in his professional career over the left field wall for a home run. Expect DSL players to be included in the next installment of the series. Speaking of DSL players, it seems that the following members of the 2009 DSL squad will be making the trip up North to be parts of the GCL and/or Elizabethton Twins' 2010 teams: Right hand pitchers: Carlos Carrillo, Cesar Ciurcina, Pedro Guerra, and Manuel Soliman, Left hand pitcher Luis Nunez, third baseman Wander Guillen, outfielder Candido Pimenter and first baseman Kelvin Silvania. It is no secret that I have a high opinion of the players of the 2008 and 2009 DSL teams and prospects like Pedro Guerra (whom I have consistently ranked as one of the top pitching prospects in the Twins organization), Ciurcina, Silvania and Guillen will have an opportunity to impress the audience that does not unfortunately follow the DSL.

Here is the list of who is hot in the minors and there has been considerable player movement since the last listing:

Catchers:


Infielders:
Yangervis Solarte(SHB, 22, AA/A+) .321/.368/.476 5 HR, 22 RBI, 186 PA

Outfielders:

Dustin Martin (LHB, 26, AAA) .302/.368/.459 5 HR, 33 RBI, 191 PA
Jason Repko (RHB, 29, AAA) .310/.389/.437 4 HR, 19 RBI, 182 PA
Ben Revere (LHB, 22, AA) .315/.394/.387 1 HR, 16 RBI, 18 SB, 210 PA

1st basemen/DH:


RH Starters:

Anthony Swarzak (24,AAA) 4.05 ERA, 0.950 WHIP, 6.8 K/9, 3.75 K/BB
Bobby Lanigan (23, A+) 2.67 ERA, 0.989 WHIP, 8.3 K/9, 7.00 K/BB
Kyle Gibson (22, A+/AA) 1.68 ERA, 1.005 WHIP, 8.1 K/9, 3.71 K/BB
Liam Hendricks (21, A) 1.88 ERA, 0.767 WHIP, 10.0 K/9, 8.00 K/BB
Tom Stuifbergen (21, A) 1.09 ERA, 1.061 WHIP, 9.3 K/9, 4.25 K/BB


LH Starters:

Dan Osterbrock (23, A/A+) 3.30 ERA, 1.221 WHIP, 7.7 K/9, 3.77 K/BB

RH Relievers:

Matt Fox (27, AAA) 2.44 ERA, 1.015 WHIP, 6.3 K/9, 2.38 K/BB
Anthony Slama (26, AAA) 1.55 ERA, 0.793 WHIP, 10.9 K/9, 2.92 K/BB
Kyle Waldrop (24, AAA) 1.47 ERA, 0.955 WHIP, 6.1 K/9, 4.17 K/BB
Matthew Williams (23, A+) 3.07 ERA, 1.091 WHIP, 9.5 K/9, 3.44 K/BB
Kane Holbrooks (23, A) 1.23 ERA, 1.057 WHIP, 12.6 K/9, 5.86 K/BB
Jhon Garcia (23, A) 2.08 ERA, 1.096 WHIP, 3.6 K/9, 1.40 K/BB
Dakota Watts (22, A) 2.16 ERA, 1.230 WHIP, 10.0 K/9, 1.85 K/BB

LH Relievers:

Andrei Lobanov (20, A+) 1.59 ERA, 1.147 WHIP, 7.9 K/9, 3.33 K/BB