There's an old axiom in baseball that states you can never have enough pitching. The Minnesota Twins took that to heart on the second day of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft, loading up on pitchers that they hope can make an impact in the future.
Of the twenty-nine selections that the Twins had on Day Two of the 2011 MLB Draft, twenty-one of them were used on pitchers. Of those twenty-one pitchers, thirteen of them were taken from the college ranks, two of them from the junior college level, and six are currently in high school. Twelve of the twenty-one pitchers the Twins took are southpaws.
The Twins started the day off by grabbing a native Minnesotan, right-handed pitcher Madison Boer out of the University of Oregon. Boer, who is a native of Eden Prairie, has a fastball that has been clocked at 96 miles per hour, a good slider, and a very good split-finger pitch. He had a 2.27 ERA for the Ducks this year, and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 74/34.
Among the non-pitchers that the Twins took was Ivan Rodriguez. If that name sounds familiar, it is because he's the son of former American League MVP and 14-time All-Star catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez. The younger Rodriguez was selected out of monsignor Edward Pace High School in Florida, but does not play the same position on the field as his legendary father. . .the younger Rodriguez is an outfielder with a very good arm, having been clocked at 95 miles per hour on a throw from center field to home plate.
After taking UNC shortstop Levi Michael in Round One of this year's draft, the Twins continued to add to their middle infield depth, snagging Wichita State shortstop Tyler Grimes in the fifth round, and shortstop Nicholas Bryant out of Troy University in the ninth round.
The Twins managed to get themselves a couple more Minnesotans in their selections later in the day as well. In the sixteenth round, they drafted left-handed pitcher Austin Malinowski out of Centennial High School. Malinowski has a commitment to play for the Arizona Wildcats, but could find himself in the Twins' farm system instead. He was 7-0 for Centennial this year, posting a microscopic 0.85 ERA in the process and striking out 63 hitters in 41 innings. In the draft's twenty-fifth round, they grabbed Minnetonka native (and current Golden Gopher) Adam Petterson, who is yet another shortstop. A freshman All-American in 2009, Pettersen hit .344 with a homer, 12 RBI, and eight stolen bases for the Gophers this past season.
Here is a full list of the players that the Minnesota Twins selected on the second day of the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft.
2) Madison Boer, RHP, University of Oregon
3) Corey Williams, LHP, Vanderbilt University
4) Matt Summers, RHP, UC-Irvine
5) Tyler Grimes, SS, Wichita State
6) Ivan Rodriguez, CF, Monsignor Edward Pace High School (Florida)
7) Steven Gruver, LHP, University of Tennessee
8) Jason Wheeler, LHP, Loyola Marymount
9) Nicholas Bryant, SS, Troy University
10) Brett Lee, LHP, St. Petersburg Junior College
11) Tyler Jones, LHP, Louisiana State University
12) Matthew Koch, C, Loyola Marymount
13) Steven Evans, LHP, Liberty University
14) Adam McCreery, LHP, Bonita High School (California)
15) Josue Montanez, LHP, Miami Dade Community College
16) Austin Malinowski, LHP, Centennial High School (Minnesota)
17) Joshua Burris, RHP, Louisiana State University-Eunice
18) Corey Kimes, LHP, University of Illinois
19) Tyler Koelling, CF, Southern Mississippi
20) Brian Anderson, SS, Deer Creek High School (Oklahoma)
21) Michael Howard, LHP, Prescott High School (Arizona)
22) James Ramsey, RF, Florida State University
23) Timothy Shibuya, RHP, UC-San Diego
24) Nich Burdi, RHP, Downer's Grove High School (Illinois)
25) Adam Pettersen, SS, University of Minnesota
26) Trent Higginbotham, RHP, Clay Chalkville High School (Alabama)
27) Chris Mazza, RHP, Menlo College (California)
28) David Hurlbut, LHP, Cal State-Fullerton
29) Derek Thompson, LHP, Teutopolis High School (Illinois)
30) William Clinard, RHP, Vanderbilt University