I had the television on today while working on a Joe Mauer story for Friday’s paper. I ran downstairs when the Twins’ pick came up.
And there it was. The first televised pick in the history of the organization was 5-foot-9 and 152 pounds.
Ben Revere, an prep outfielder from Kentucky, was the Twins’ first pick. I was a little stunned, but the Twins did say one of the areas they wanted to address was leadoff talent.
Revere was ranked as the 42nd best prep prospect by Baseball America, and 135th overall. I tried to figure out what the Twins were thinking.
After talking with Ben, his father and the Twins, here’s what I found out.
1. He’s around 170 pounds, not 152.
2. One of his nine homers traveled 450 feet this year, so he may have a little pop.
3. He did play second base in high school, but the Twins view him as a center fielder only.
4. He does the Joe Morgan thing with his left elbow as a timing mechanism.
5. He was timed at 6.28 in the 60-yard dash, and he’s faster than ANY current Twins major leaguer or prospect.
6. The Twins had him ranked in the 50’s and were afraid he’d be gone before their 2nd round pick. I don’t know who they had at 28, but I did learn that they may have looked at Nicolas Schmidt if he had fallen down a few more spots. They must really like this kid to draft him in the first round when the signing bonus slot already is just around $1 million.
“He can bench press 300 pounds,” Radcliff said. “He’s strong, really strong. There’s upside here. He can hit them 450 feet, but we’re hoping it is more front line top of lineup, base stealing guy, but he can hit them far.”
We’ll see. The Twins need to have a No. 1 position pick come through.
The Twins took a power hitting catcher, first-baseman in the second round, Danny, `Bam-Bam,’ Rams. I’m not kidding. That’s his real nickname. Apparently this kid has a strong arm and sick power, but only had 6 homers this year. Sounds like he’s a little bit of a project and may end up at first base or the outfield.
 “He’s not a Mauer, catching wise,” Radcliff said. “He’s not polished catching. He wil never be a great catcher it will be a question of if he’ll be able to stay at catcher.”
Rams is another high school pick. Actually, all five Twins’ picks were high schoolers. Radcliff said they didn’t intend to do that, it just shook out that way.
“Â All those guys, Â we don’t just have conviction and belief in their abilities, but also some ceiling to their offensive abilities,” Radcliff said. “We got guys we really have the belief will have some offensive potential. The clock is running on player development now.”
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In the third round, the Twins took Puerto Rican prep outfielder Angel Morales.
“He’s a five tool guy,” Radcliff said. “He can run, throw, field and you can project the hitting. He has a chance to impact the game with all five tools.”
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Next was a lanky looking dude with a nice swing (his scouting video was running when I walked into the Twins baseball communications department) named Reggie Williams, a prepster from Bellflower, Calif. Radcliff expects him to settle in at second or third.
Checked the Baseball America site. Nothing on this kid.
“He’s going to be a big man,” Radcliff said. “His dad is a big man. He’s going to be strong and big. He’s a young looking kid. He’s young-looking, wears braces and doesn’t shave. He’s going to be a different player in five years than he is now.”
The Twins took a sinkerballer in Nathan Striz in the fifth, and final round.
“We have seen him throw hard, anywhere from 87-94,” Radcliff said. “Heavy ball. He can be a reliever but also is  durable and strong and has chance to eat innings and be a starter (sounds like he needs another pitch). Heavy sinker, that’s his asset.”
 I know this doesn’t fill in all the blanks, but that’s all I have. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/ may have additional info. The MLB website has some scouting videos, too. Apparently, Revere is so fast he’s running out of the camera shot..
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