The Twins have signed first round pick Alex Wimmers according to Kelsie Smith of The Pioneer Press (via Twitter). Joe Christensen of The Star Tribune tweets that he will receive a $1.33MM signing bonus, matching MLB's recommended bonus.
Minnesota selected Wimmers with the 21st overall pick back in June. The Ohio State righthander boasts the best changeup in the draft according to Baseball America, who also says that he throws his fastball at 90-92 and touches 94 mph. Smith says Wimmers will report to the Twins' Class-A Advanced affiliate in Fort Myers next week (Twitter link).
There are still 17 unsigned first round picks with ten days to go before the signing deadline.
The Twins drafted and successfully signed a college righty without front of the line stuff, but who has a really good feel for pitching. This is the most surprising thing to happen since Ben Sheets hit the DL.
Very nice. Hopefully he and Kyle Gibson can both be good pitchers that pretty much fell to us, but I feel Gibson will be better unless Wimmers can add some velocity.
Wimmers is a safe bet. He’ll make the MLB but won’t be a perennial All-Star. Overall, great draft pick for the Twins. This is why they are successful year after year. They don’t break the bank on a guy with high upside/high risk when they feel more confident in a steady performer.
So is he the next Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn, or Glen Perkins?
Next Radke.
True enough. Wimmers is another in a long line of Radkes & I mean that in a good way. Radke was my favorite pitcher as a kid. Baker was Radke 2.0 & Slowey was Radke 2.1 I’ll be interested to see what adjustments have been made in the 3.0 model.
I know this is just me but I’d love to see a 300 lb gut and giant mohawk on Version 4.0
I am from ohio and follow ohio state baseball very close. You guys are getting a kid who will give it his all everytime he goes out to the mound. Go and ask the gophers what kind of stuff he has.