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Through the fences website released a mock today and have the Twins taking Nick Gordon. Here is their write up: Gordon is displaying all the tools this season that will make him a top-10 pick come June — he is one of the most exciting players in the 2014 MLB draft. Already a gifted defender at shortstop with a strong arm, instincts and great glove, he has shown increased power while maintaining his speed and advanced approach at the plate. The left-handed batter is hitting .507/.620/.870 over 27 games with nine doubles, two triples, five home runs and 17 stolen bases. He has drawn 18 walks to just three strikeouts and has been plunked five times. With his bloodlines, athleticism and baseball instincts, he has as much upside as anyone in the 2014 MLB draft. Committed to Florida State.

It's great to see him pitch better but with the TJ surgery epidemic going on I can't see how it is a good thing.

Rodon dominated this weekend. Complete game with 15 K. Reports had his fastball hitting 97. He did throw over 125+ pitches for his third straight outing. Not to be out done, Kolek struck out 16. Apparently the Marlins, white Sox, and cubs GMs were on hand for the performance.

Hoffman's injury and Beede's regression really hurts the Twins. I prefer Freeland to Nola but I'm not a huge fan of either. Both don't have ideal deliveries (Nola doesn't have ideal size) and neither posses a true 70 pitch. While Freeland's slider has shown the glimpses of 60+ it isn't a true plus-plus pitch.

I haven't seen Reed play in person so I can only go by what I read.

He does great work for ESPN and on his own site. Monday he will have a new mock and the week after that he will have a 100 prospect deep draft board.

Here is another article on A.J. Reed: http://kentucky.247sports.com/Article/UK-two-way-star-AJ-Reed-making-case-for-Golden-Spikes-Award-28315318

Wow, I hadn't seen that. Terrible news. Crawford released an insider article on players with the most to gain/lose and Hoffman was the college pitcher with the most to gain. Here is what one front office member had to say: "It's going to be a huge final four or five starts [for Hoffman]," an AL front-office member said. "We all saw how dominant he was over the summer, and we saw glimpses of that this year, but last week was the first time we saw Hoffman really put it all together this season. If he can be that guy up until the end of May, I think he's got a really good chance of being the first pitcher to come off of the board when the draft gets here." Beede was the college pitcher with the most to lose. Fisher was the college bat with the most to gain and Zimmer was the college bat with the most to lose. Full article and breakdown here: http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/mlb-draft/post?id=1606

Reed is an interesting guy but lack of bat speed and the fact he is going to be a 1B or DH in the bigs kills his draft stock. Dude can hit it a mile though.

John Manuel's chat was very......interesting. He suggested about 15 names in play for top 5 picks which seems high. Here are few questions from the chat: How are Twins gonna resist temptation of Aaron Nola at pick #5? John Manuel: Ha, they do love strike-throwers. That said, Freeland throws as many strikes, is lefthanded and has more stuff. The Twins have prioritized velocity in recent drafts and that points them away from Nola, but I don’t think Nola would be out of place at No. 5 either. He does more with his fastball than the majority of college pitchers. Erick Fedde would not be totally out of place there either, and is another guy with the combination of velocity and fastball command to interested Deron Johnson, Mike Radcliff & Co. What range do you see LHP Kyle Freeland going around? Is he picking up momentum around scouts, assistant GMs, and GMs? John Manuel: Freeland does have momentum, and I could see him going very high. For me, he’d have to be in play at any spot in the first 10 selections. I don’t think he’s the right fit at No. 1 overall, but it’s not outlandish. He has stuff, command and a good pro body, plus he’s from Colorado, and I have an irrational fetish for tall pitchers from Colorado (I blame Roy Halladay, Brad Lidge, Kevin Gausman, Mark Melancon … I could go on). And no college pitcher has performed like Freeland this season when you look at his K-BB ratio. John, what is Alex Jackson's ceiling/floor in terms of when he'll be selected? Seems like Houston and Miami need pitching more than hitting, but CWS could use everything. On the pessimistic side, could he fall out of the top 10? John Manuel: In this draft class, Jackson’s power and offensive ability stand out. I don’t see him falling out of the first 10 picks. I think he’s in play anywhere in the first 10 selections, frankly. He can hit, he’s athletic, he has a lengthy track record (particularly for a high school player) and he could remain at a premium position. Will Alex Jackson folllow the likes of Will Meyers and Bryce Harper and move from behind the plate due to the advanced bat? Is he at that level where it warrants moving him from behind the dish? John Manuel: That’s possible but I don’t believe he has the explosiveness offensively those two guys have. I do see him moving to RF as a possibility because the bat is advanced, but I haven’t talked to a scout who puts him in the same power category as those two. Hey John, thanks for the chat! Jedi (really Theo) is gonna take a pitcher at No. 4 right? Given this draft is pitcher-heavy, and the relative lack of arms in our system compared with our positional depth, this seems pretty obvious. One of Hoffman, Beede, Rodon, Aiken, Kolek is gonna be there. John Manuel: We thought the same thing last year, when the Cubs picked No. 2 overall, but they wound up going with a hitter in Kris Bryant. That said, there is not a Bryant in this draft, and this pitcher class is stronger than it was last year. Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod were all in town last week to see both Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Rodon, so both are in play, as potentially are Aiken and Kolek as you said. I can see Aaron Nola being in that mix, though he’s more in the Mike Leake mold, and I believe Kyle Freeland, Erick Fedde and Brandon Finnegan also could be in that mix at No. 4. None of those guys would stun me at No. 4, though I would at this point be a bit surprised by Beede at that spot. With his recent spate of bad starts, how far has Tyler Beede's draft stock fallen? Or are MLB evaluators focusing largely on his arm talent and viewing this as a blip on the radar? John Manuel: We do hear Beede was probably a shade high at No. 6 in our Midseason Update. He seems to be in a bad groove right now; when he throws strikes, he gets hit, or he has one of those 5-walk outings. His command lags behind his control. The pitch that has really caught scouts’ attention is the improvement in his changeup, but it feels like he’s more of a 6-10 pick overall rather than a threat to go in the first five selections. I don’t believe he’ll fall into the second half, barring injury, just because there is so much to work with there. He also answered questions on Gatewood, Gordon, eager, Turner, and more. http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/2014-draft-update-chat-with-john-manuel/

Keith Law saw Jake Bukauskus yesterday and wrote a scouting report on the 6 foot right. "He's technically a high school junior, but is using a recent MLB rule change to enter the draft a year early because he's already 17, as Drew Ward did last year. And with Bukauskus hitting 98 mph regularly this spring, he has forced an industry scramble to get in and see him, because scouts don't have the history with him they might normally have with a first-round prospect. " Keith law noted his fastball sat between 93-97 and hit 98 once. His slider was iinconsistent. He only threw his change up twice in game. http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/mlb-draft/post?id=1601

From Jim Callis: Area scouts put Harrison's tools in the same class as those of Bubba Starling, the Kansas prep outfielder whom the Royals drafted fifth overall in 2011. Starling, who also had a football scholarship (quarterback) from Nebraska, has struggled to hit in pro ball. The switch-hitting Harrison has encouraged scouts by showing an improved swing and approach at the plate as a senior. "His athleticism is ridiculous," a senior scouting official said. "The raw power/speed/athleticism combo, you're talking about elite level. Is he going to hit? That's the $2 million question. I feel a little bit better about Monte's bat than I did about Bubba Starling's. "It's just that breaking ball/spin issue with pitch recognition. How do you know? How many times are you going to see him against a good right-handed slider? But his other tools are off the charts. He's explosive. You're talking about Adam Jones and guys like that."

Jim Callis on Bukauskas, Imhof, and Harrison: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140421&content_id=72923116&notebook_id=72923972&vkey=notebook_mlb&c_id=mlb

Because of the depth of pitching in this draft I feel the 46th pitch will be a pitcher. I really like a lot of the HS arms. Mac Marshall and personal favorite Foster Griffin are big lefties I would love to fall to the Twins. Jacob Bukauskas, Jacob Nix, and Sean Read-Foley are interesting RHPs. Kodi Medeiros and Justin Sheffield are undersized lefties with big stuff.

April 18th draft prospect run down: http://mlbdraftinsider.com/2014/04/the-rundown-april-18/

4th best starting pitcher or the best bat. I don't think it is cut and dry whom the Twins should take. Unless someone steps up I don't mind grabbing Jackson at 5. Big upside and a safer pick.

Rodon and Weaver had solid games today but high pitch counts. Beede with another clunker. He might end up being this years Stanek.

Keith Law scouted Kolek yesterday and compared him to the Pirate's Jameson Tallion. Here is what Law had to say about his stuff: "Kolek threw on Thursday evening at home, about an hour northeast of Houston, and while he didn't hit triple digits, he still worked with plus velocity. Kolek was 93-97, mostly sitting 95-96, showing good two-seam life on some of the pitches, with others straightening out because he overthrew them. He throws a hard, slurvy slider that is average to above-average when he's pitching to a right-handed batter, 79-83 with sharp break and good tilt. However it gets sloppy with a left-handed batter at the plate, as Kolek tries too hard to hit the outside corner and the pitch loses its sharpness and some of its angle. He has a changeup but barely uses it -- at this level it's just doing hitters who can't catch up to 94-plus velocity a favor." Link to article here: http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/mlb-draft/post?id=1556

Jim Callis' draft note book with notes on Aiken, Pentecost, and more: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140418&content_id=72515470&notebook_id=72516602&vkey=notebook_mlb&c_id=mlb

Definitely great to see. I would love to see Beede and a few of the bats step up in the second half to give the Twins a few options.

BA released a very in depth look at how well top college players have done so far by the numbers. A great read. http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/top-college-prospects-by-the-numbers-midseason-update/

Hoffman with electric stuff today according to reports. 16 K, 1 BB, 3 H, 0 ER. His fastball sat between 95-97. Theo and Hoyer in attendance. Apparently a ton of big wigs are in attendance because Rodon is pitching an hour away. Also, Law noted Kolek pitching between 94-97 in the first. I'm sure he will publish a full game report tomorrow.

This is a pretty solid breakdown. Personally if I'm drafting in the top 5 picks I want the most talented player. Swing for the fences! Wimmers, Gilmartin, and Hultzen were all safe/quick to the bigs picks that back fired for their clubs.

Reetz is a solid catching prospect but I personally would be a little disappointed if the Twins didn't grab an arm in the second round. This draft is so deep in arms that it feels like you can get a first round talent arm with the 46th pick. Obviously depending on how the first round plays out this could obviously change. There are just so many HS arms I like.

Crawford released an insider article on ESPN called: Finding Talent in Unlikely Places. He mentions Kodi Mederios of Hawaii, Jakson Reetz of Nebraska, and Scott Blewett of New York. Crawford specifically mentions the Twins and Marlins as potential 2nd round landing spots for Blewett because they value young pitchers. Blewett is a 6'6 235 lbs righty who can hit 95. http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/mlb-draft/post?id=1516