Two All-Star Future Game selections, one injury and swap of organizations, and a change in position from starter to reliever. All have been accomplishments and growing pains experienced by Minnesota Twins' prospect Alex Meyer.
Meyer, the twenty-third overall selection by the Washington Nationals in the 2011 MLB Draft, spent only one full season with the organization (2012) before being traded individually for center fielder Denard Span the next offseason. In his first year in the Twins' system, the University of Kentucky product suffered a shoulder sprain that resulted in him missing most of the 2013 season. Luckily, Meyer was able to make up for lost time in the Arizona Fall League, which gave him confidence since his velocity returned. Yet two years later, the right hander would not struggle staying healthy but with his control. MLB.com's twenty-third top prospect started his 2015 campaign with a 2-3 record, a 7.09 earned run average, and twenty-four walks in thirty-nine and one/thirds innings pitched during eight starts with Triple-A Rochester. His ineffectiveness on the mound led to Meyer's transition to the bullpen, which was only suppose to be until he showed he was ready to rejoin the rotation. The twenty-five year old never re-joined it, but he has received a promotion to join the Minnesota Twins thanks to his play out of the pen over the last month (one earned run surrendered in seventeen innings pitched with twenty strikeouts).
Meyer relies heavily on a fastball that is reguarly clocked in the upper nineties and a power slider, which have both helped him average 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings. The six foot, nine inch pitcher joins a Twins' bullpen needing all the help it can get as the unit has the twelveth best earned run average (3.81) and the fewest strikeouts (one hundred and forty-one strikeouts in two hundred and twelve and one/thirds innings) in the American League.
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