Missouri pitcher falls to Twins with 22nd selection

The consensus was that this year's Major League Baseball amateur draft was pitching-rich, and the Twins might have selected one of the best prospects of the class in University of Missouri righthander Kyle Gibson on Tuesday.

Gibson was ranked was the fourth-best prospect by Baseball America. So how does a team like the Twins, who had the No. 22 pick, land such a talent?

They did their homework while injury concerns caused Gibson to slip to them.

Gibson, a second-team All-America, saw his velocity drop as he finished up the season. There was something wrong with his forearm and, in most cases, that's a warning sign of elbow trouble.

Gibson had a magnetic resonance imaging exam that showed a stress fracture in his elbow -- not a ligament problem, just a bone that needed to heal. He is expected to be unable to pitch for six weeks -- which was about the length of time he said he uplanned to take off after the season anyway.

The Twins were one of several teams to obtain a copy of the MRI and had team physician Dr. John Steubs look at it.

"[Steubs] gave us the OK," Twins scouting director Deron Johnson said. "He said the elbow was structurally fine and all he needed was rest."

So if it all works out, the Twins landed a top-10 talent in Gibson, a 21-year-old who was 10-3 with a 3.47 ERA for the Tigers this year. In 99 innings, Gibson walked 18 batters and struck out 123. There's a chance the Twins could play it safe and shut him down for the summer.

"All the doctors I have talked to, which includes a couple major league doctors and the doctors around town that work for the [Indianapolis] Colts, said in six weeks for sure I'll be 100 percent healthy and it will be healed," said Gibson, a native of Greenfield, Ind.

The Twins took college pitchers with all four of their first-day selections. They took Indiana lefthander Matt Bashore, described by Johnson as a larger version of Glen Perkins, with the No. 46 pick (between the first and second rounds). Then they went after relief prospects, getting Florida righthander Billy Bullock and his fastball that reaches 98 miles per hour in the second round, and Jacksonville State righthander Ben Tootle, whose fastball has been clocked at 99 mph, in the third round. Each pitcher is 21 years old.

According to Baseball America, Gibson can hit 94 mph with his fastball but relies mostly on a sinking fastball clocked at 88-91. He also throws a slider and changeup.

Gibson said he was able to compete despite battling forearm issues because he doesn't rely solely on his fastball.

"One thing I pride myself on is being able to throw all my pitches for strikes," he said. "Had I not been able to do that, I would not have been able to throw as well as I did the last two times without my best fastball."

Will the top-10 talent ask for a top-10 bonus? The average bonuses for players in the top 10 last season was $4.1 million; last year's No. 22 pick, infielder Reese Havens, signed with the Mets for $1.419 million.

The Twins historically haven't gone over the league-recommended bonuses for the picks. And the league has suggested that teams drop bonuses by 10 percent.

"In our market, we have to take players we have a chance to sign," Johnson said, "and we feel we have a chance to sign this player."

If the Twins can get him signed, Gibson can begin to repay the club for believing he was healthy.

"I'm happy I fell to the Twins," he said. "I think it's a brilliant organization for me and I think it's just a blessing."