MLB Insider: Reflections on the recent draft

The annual first-year player draft is over, and the wait is on to find out which teams nailed their picks.

It can be a long wait, as the baseball draft is far from an exact science.

The draft still is a fascinating event. Three shortstops went with the first three picks, and eight went in the first round, tying a record. The sons of Mariano Rivera, Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio and Jay Bell were drafted. Nick Castellanos got to announce the pick of his younger brother. And the Angels drafted the son of their general manager and the brother of Mike Trout's girlfriend.

And there were other interesting moments from last week's draft:

The Twins threw it out there when talking about the Illinois lefthander, whom they selected with the sixth overall pick. Jay walked only seven batters in 66⅔ innings, which got GM Terry Ryan's attention.

"That's why I say he's a little more advanced," Ryan said. "He has a pretty good grasp of the strike zone."

The Twins want Jay, a reliever in college, to eventually start, but they will take it easy on him this season. That means he won't have a big workload and could be available later in the season.

But a lot of things would have to break right for Jay to put on a Twins uniform this year. "It's a little early to talk about stuff like that when he hasn't pitched an inning of professional baseball," Ryan said.

The mission statement is: "The '80s strike back." Beltran, the veteran switch-hitting outfielder now with the Yankees is trying to revive Puerto Rican baseball.

Five players from his four-year-old academy were drafted last week. That includes Jovani Moran, a lefthander the Twins selected in the seventh round who has a good frame and good control.

In recent years, the Twins have altered their philosophy on drafting pitchers, focusing on power arms more than spot-hitters. That continued last week.

Alex Robinson, a lefthander from Maryland selected in the fifth round, can hit 96 miles per hour on the gun.

Hector Lujan, taken in the 35th round from Westmont College, can hit 95.

The Twins are no longer afraid to draft a hard thrower with command problems and try to teach him control.

"You noticed that," said Twins scouting director Deron Johnson.

There are two players the Twins are secretly high on.

One is 12th-round pick Zander Wiel, a first baseman from Vanderbilt who hit a opposite field homer off Jay during the NCAA playoffs.