La Velle E. Neal III
Star Tribune

With minor league seasons wrapping up this weekend, it's time to revise the
list of top prospects in the Twins organization.

1. Jason Kubel, outfielder: Kubel was called up last week after a stellar
season in which he batted .377 at Class AA New Britain and .343 at Class AAA
Rochester. He sees the ball well and has the potential to hit for a little
power.
He has a strong arm in right field but needs some work getting to balls.

2. J.D. Durbin, righthanded pitcher: Durbin began the year at New Britain to
work on a changeup to go with his 93 mile-an-hour fastball and curve. Shoulder
surgery cost him about a month of action, and perhaps a call to the majors.
He's now healthy at Class AAA Rochester and could be called up this week.

2a. Scott Baker, righthanded pitcher: Baker started the season at Class A
Fort Myers but was promoted twice because of merit and necessity. He changes
speeds well and has a good fastball he can sink or cut effectively.

3. Jason Bartlett, shortstop: Twins coaches feel Bartlett needs some fine
tuning, defensively. He's a good hitter with good plate discipline. Twins
manager
Ron Gardenhire noticed that Bartlett pats his glove after fielding balls, a
delay that will cost him in the majors,

4. Jesse Crain, righthanded pitcher: Crain has been in the majors for just
over a month, but is still considered a prospect. He's another talented arm with
a 95 mph fastball to go with a slider and curve. He said last week that he's
not trying to fire his fastball by everyone as he did when he first came up.

5. Francisco Liriano, lefthanded pitcher: Throws 95 mph with a good change
up. Sound familiar? Liriano struck out 120 batters in 117 innings at Fort Myers,
but walked 43. He still earned a promotion to New Britain, where he was 2-2
with a 2.08 ERA and 40 strikeouts and 12 walks in 34 2/3 innings. Could become
a Johan Santana-like prospect if he continues to work on his control

6. Terry Tiffee, third base: Wasn't much of a prospect a couple of years ago,
but got in better shape and took off. He's a switch-hitter with a smooth
swing and didn't appeared to be nervous in his major league debut last week.
Decent defensively.

7. Garrett Jones, first base: A big, strong player who began to realize his
potential this year after an early promotion from Fort Myers. He entered the
final weekend of the season batting .310 with 27 homers and 86 RBI. Needs work
defensively.

8. Adam Harben, righthanded pitcher: Went 9-7, 3.07 at Quad City this season.
Has hit 96 mph on the gun but settles in around 93-94 with a good slider.
Several in the organization are high on Harben, who needs to change speeds if
he's going to make a Scott Baker-like rise next year.

9. Glen Perkins, lefthanded pitcher: Finished the year at Quad City after
being promoted from Elizabethton. The former Gopher is proving that he was one
of
the more polished pitchers in this year's draft and could continue to rise
quickly through the system next season.

10. Kyle Waldrop, righthanded pitcher: Waldrop, handled carefully after a
busy high school season, walked three batters in 20 innings at rookie league
Elizabethton. In addition to good control, he also likes to change speeds, which
is uncommon for a young pitcher.

September 5, 2004


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