Twins Promote Alex Meyer

Love it. Improving the team, but from within.

Not normally a big fan of the idea of moving someone out of position to help the club only to move said player back again. But after a nice last season, a rough personal offseason, arough begining to this season, I think this still continues his development and provide even abigger boost to his confidence.

Now that it has happened, it does seem like it was inevitable. Adding Alex Meyer to the pen means that the relief staff has a power arm even stronger than Graham. That can be really important in middle or late game situations. Basically, everything Tonkin is supposed to do, Meyer is supposed to do it with another 5 mph. The difference between a well-spotted 93mph heater and a well-spotted 98mph heater can be pretty stark. Plus, Meyer's supposed to have a great slider, too. It also doesn't hurt that Meyer's release point is about six inches higher, creating that nasty downward plane.

Let's not be surprised if Meyer has a few rough spots while his emotions settle down. I know he's 25, but this will be his first exposure to major league cheers and boos. I hope he can handle it. Good thing a veteran like Perkins is there to keep him on an even keel.

Meyer's slider was devastating when I saw him pitch last season.  It's important to note, that Meyer's velocity didn't hit top end until after about 40 pitches thrown, wherein he frequently and consistently was hitting 98 and 99, all the way to 90 pitches.  Hopefully, he can find a way to crank it up sooner than that.

This is where he should have been much sooner than now, hopefully he really benefits from the coaching/training/video upgrades.  I think the Twins have positioned him well to respond to the new challenge-  in his last appearance in Rochester yesterday, he threw 9 pitches, 7 strikes, 1 K, 2 batters faced, in .2 IP, that's probably a good way to start out.