I’m Firebat, and I’m an alcoholic.

Wait, no, that’s something else.

I’m Firebat, and I’m doing the Mock Draft thing for John Sickle’s site for the Twins. Please check out the Mock Organization Diary that I have running.

As far as what my “list” looks like for the 22 pick, my top 10 is.

1. Jiovanni Mier, SS, HS

A guy that’s rising because of his ability to stay at SS. He might be the best SS in this class right now, especially with the way that Grant Green has struggled this year. He isn’t ever going to be Nick Punto/Elvis Andrus in the field, but he has a good chance of remaining at SS. The bat is solid, but not great. Overall, he’s a lot like Aaron Hicks with a bit less power potential and a bit more polish.

2. Bobby Borchering, 3B, HS

The more the draft goes, the more I’m hearing that Bobby Borchering might actually go much sooner than this. There’s talk of Arizona taking him, and even some talk of him going to teams like Oakland @ 13 or Texas @ 14 if their top players are gone. He’s the best bat in this prep class (He’s homered once in every 7.4 ABs this year). There’s some questions about his swing, but he’s got great bat speed so it’s not that big of a concern. He has about a 50-50 chance of remaining @ 3B, but he might have the bat to play well, even as a firstbaseman.

3-7. Any of 4 College LHP

Mike Minor (Vanderbilt), Andy Oliver (Oklahoma State), Rex Brothers (Libscomb), and James Paxton (Kentucky) are all college lefties with 1st round grades. Of the four, Brothers probably has the best ceiling while Minor has the best polish. I’d think the Twins would be more likely to draft Minor (good pedigree, good program, high polish, lesser miledge on his arm, and signable) than any of the others, but all four definitely deserve consideration.

8. Richard Pothyress, 1B, Georgia

An excellent name. Probably the most productive bat in College baseball, though he’s struggled against some top flight competition. Be clear, this is not Justin Smoak or Pedro Alvarez – both of whom offers much higher upside and better defensive value. He doesn’t really have a defined position, but he’ll get to the majors quickly and adds some on-base value for a Twins team that lacks it outside of Mauer, Span and, sometimes, Morneau.

9 and 10. Two HS Lefties

Tyler Skaggs and Chad James are both HS lefties, but I really don’t believe the 8 players before these two will be exhausted before the Twins pick. For what it’s worth, they’re both good pitchers with the ability to add more velocity, but lacks polished secondary stuff right now – you know, like all HS lefties.

Borchering, I think, can advance at different levels depending on if you want him as a 3B or a 1B. If you get him at 1B, he’ll advance pretty quickly, but if you want him to remain a 3B, that’s when you’ll see 3+ development time.

Also, Borchering, I think, has all the tools to play 3B. An above average arm, good quickness, and generally pretty solid footwork. The problem is things like his setup (he sets up like a hockey goalie, almost in a weird, crouch position). Those things are generally easier to develop than guys who lack tools for the position.

A lot of Stassi’s value is the fact that he will remain at catcher, which is rare, especially for a HS guy. If you bring him into an organization with Ramos and Mauer, I think you remove a lot of value from him. Really, I think at this point, you’d be better off trying to get Austin Maddox at 46, as his bat is more likely to play @ a corner IF spot.

1. Avoid the high school pitchers. (I agree with you here)

2. I wouldn’t draft a bullpen arm. It seems like most of the elite bullpen arms didn’t start out that way, they were good lower level prospects who never developed a third pitch.

3. BPA, BPA, BPA. Maybe focus a little more offensively than in years past, but it takes so long for (our) draft picks to reach the majors, needs change so much.