Twins minor league report: Shortstop Kelly begins road back

By LA VELLE E. NEAL III, Star Tribune

Last update: June 22, 2008 - 12:44 AM

The Twins thought they had a sure future major leaguer on their hands when they selected shortstop Paul Kelly in the second round of the 2005 draft.

"He has good size," said Jim Rantz, Twins director of minor leagues. "When you take a look at him, he really stands out."

The 6-1, 195-pound Kelly was a very good fielder coming out of Flower Mound (Texas) High School that year. And the Twins believed he could hit. But injuries to his left knee have limited him to 142 games in three years since being drafted. He played in only 95 games for Class A Beloit in 2006 and missed all but two games last season because of surgery to repair his left lateral meniscus.

Now 22, Kelly is trying to get back on track.

He was 2-for-2 on Thursday for Beloit in his first action of the season. He has to play with a brace on his left knee, so the challenge is to see if it hinders his play in any way. For now, the Twins are just happy Kelly is back on the field, because they had high hopes for him coming out of high school.

Even manager Ron Gardenhire brought up Kelly while talking about the state of middle infielders in the farm system.

"We had Paul Kelly down there, but he has had bad knees," Gardenhire said. "He was supposedly our guy. He's a player, but his knees haven't allowed him to do it."

System check

• The Twins were impressed by Class AAA Rochester outfielder Denard Span, who after missing a month because of a broken finger went 8-for-12 with four RBI in his first three games after being activated. Span is making a case to be called up to spell Carlos Gomez in center and get a couple starts as a corner outfielder.

• Infielder Chris Basak was sold to Scranton/Wilkes Barre, the Yankees' Class AAA affiliate, after getting four hits for Rochester on Wednesday. The Twins are getting healthy at the middle infield positions in the minors, and the 29-year-old Basak, who made his major league debut with the Yankees last year, was looking at reduced playing time. The Twins had an agreement with him to send him somewhere where he could get playing time.

• Unfortunately, Luke Hughes isn't one of the middle infielders getting healthy. Hughes, out because of a pulled groin muscle, was supposed to return to Class AA New Britain last week but his return has been pushed back until the end of the month.

• Class A Fort Myers outfielder Rene Tosoni, who was batting .325 in 36 games before breaking a foot, recently flew to the Twin Cities to have the cast removed and returned to Fort Myers. He will miss a few more weeks.