Getting shot on Twins mound is a tall order

FORT MYERS, FLA. - Tuesday, the Twins pitchers will look like a collection of power forwards, or hockey enforcers.

Scott Baker (6-4) will start against the Red Sox. Those pitching in relief could include Joe Nathan (6-4), Kyle Gibson (6-6) and David Bromberg (6-5, 255 pounds, with a wild streak and an intimidating mound presence).

Walk through the Twins clubhouse these days and you'll find average-sized position players interspersed with pitchers who look like they fit the Timberwolves' prototype of longer, leaner and more athletic.

"We've got some big guys," said 6-4 Twins pitcher Nick Blackburn. "We could probably hoop it up pretty well."

Eight of the Twins' 21 pitchers on their 40-man roster are 6-4 or taller, and that doesn't include the 6-6 Gibson, who isn't on the roster yet. Seven more pitchers on the 40-man are 6-2 or 6-3.

During the Twins' dark days from 1993 through 2000, their pitching staff looked like it included more jockeys than jocks. The Twins emphasized throwing strikes but rarely drafted a pitcher who looked intimidating on the mound.

Rick Knapp, now the Detroit Tigers pitching coach, was the Twins minor league pitching coordinator from the late '90s through 2008. One year in the late '90s, he told Twins scouts that he believed the organization should place a greater emphasis on drafting tall pitchers. The results of that exchange are evident in Twins camp this spring.

"I remember being in that meeting, and Knappy said, 'We need guys with size and leverage who you can project to being a top-of-rotation starter,'" current Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson said. "You look out there now, and that's what we have. I was in the bullpen the other day quizzing the guys, 'How tall are you?' and we had a bunch of guys at 6-4, 6-5, 6-6.

"It's not that little guys can't make it. But you like the big guys with the leverage and the pitching angles."

There are plenty of exceptions to that rule. Greg Maddux is about 5-11 and had the muscle tone of a cab driver. Johan Santana is compact, and requires excellent mechanics to enable him to throw one of the best changeups in baseball.

Physics, though, dictates that longer limbs and greater mass can more effortlessly produce velocity, and that height enables a pitcher to throw at a steeper downward angle.

"Rick Knapp came to us and asked the scouting department a lot of questions," said Mike Radcliff, the Twins vice president of player personnel. "He said, 'Here's what I think works.' We started using size as a separator."

The Twins wouldn't draft a pitcher in the first round simply based on size. "But when we get past the guys who are rated highly for a reason, because of their baseball skills, you wind up with players who are listed in groups. In that case, we tend to favor the pitcher with more height," Radcliff said. "I think we've done a pretty good job of getting bigger guys, guys with long limbs and long levers."

That philosophy has informed the Twins' non-draft acquisitions. Their Opening Day starter (Carl Pavano) and All-Star closer (Joe Nathan) are 6-5 and 6-4, respectively.

"I was talking about our size the other day, and Tom Kelly was saying, 'You're right, we used to have a bunch of smaller guys,'" Anderson said. "Now you see a bunch of big, strong, guys on the mound.

"We could probably go into a basketball season with this group and be competitive."

This would be a logical place for a Timberwolves joke, but isn't that too easy?

Jim Souhan can be heard Sundays from 10 a.m. to noon and weekdays at 2:40 p.m. on 1500ESPN. His Twitter name is Souhanstrib. • jsouhan@startribune.com