The Twins have selected righthander Christian Powell from the College of Charleston with their eighth round pick. He has good size but it appears that he needs some refinement,. Read Baseball America's write-up of him:
In the eighth round, the Twins select.....a pitcher
Christian Powell is big and has a good fastball.
By lavelle neal
A 47th-round pick of the Indians in 2009, Powell's size and arm strength is lauded by scouts. He stands at 6-foot-5, 220 pounds and fires fastballs that sit 90-93 mph and touch 95-96 with sink. Powell has had success for the Cougars this season, and he was 8-3, 2.35 in 14 appearances (13 starts) and opponents were batting just .222 off of him. He throws strikes, but he doesn't have the strikeout numbers you would expect out of a hard thrower, with 66 in 80 innings. That is likely a product of his lack of command and secondary stuff. He has a questionable arm action that affects his velocity, command and breaking ball. His curveball is solid, but he doesn't command it and it's not an out pitch right now. He mixes in a hard changeup.
BA ranked Powell as the 195th best prospect. Here's his bio.
So eight of the Twins' 11 picks so far today have been pitchers. Most of them with good fastballs.
about the writer
lavelle neal
A report in Bloomberg News said the private equity billionaire has met with people in Minnesota to learn more about the team.