Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch

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With the Twins having a severe need for pitching in the organization as well as six picks among the top 100, it is certain that more than one of those picks (and probably the second overall pick) will be used to draft a pitcher. To this respect, I am presenting profiles of the top 22 pitching prospects for the 2012 MLB draft.

I will be presenting these alphabetically, and at the end I will rank them. I will be doing about one a day and I will finish before the June 4th draft day. You can find all the profiles (in reverse alphabetical order) as they are presented here. I will start with RJ Alvarez and end with Kyle Zimmer. Each profile with contain a bit of background information and statistics, a mini scouting report and videos and photos.

Profile 20: Michael Wacha

Profile/Stats:

Michael Joseph Wacha is a Junior at Texas A&M University. He throws right handed. He was born on July 1st, 1991 in Iowa City, IA. He grew up in Texarkana, TX and went to Pleasant Grove High School. He is listed at 6'6" and 200 lbs. He was not previously drafted. He has been a starter for 3 season. This season he is 8-0 in 14 Games Started (99 innings) allowing 16 Bases on Balls and accumulating 99 strike outs. Hepitched 2 complete game shutouts, has a 2.09 ERA and 0.99 WHIP. Was a member of the National Honor Society in High School.

Mini Scouting Report:

Michael Wacha has three pitches: a fastball, a slider and a change up. Regarded by some the most polished pitcher in the draft and a typical Twins'-type selection because he's close to being ready and throwing strikes. His fastball is a two-seamer with good movement sitting at 90-92 and up to 93-94. His changeup is a plus pitch with good deception and late movement. Good command and control of both his sinker and change. His slider is a work in progress that has shown some promise, but he has not been using it much. Tall and lanky with lots of arms and legs and deception in his delivery. Good mechanics and good angle to the plate.

Videos/Photos:

Due to the difficulties in embedding videos here, please go to the original post to see videos of Michael Wacha pitching

http://image.cdnllnwnl.xosnetwork.com/pics32/200/XV/XVWDKTVXMVVMUPD.20111027194438.jpg