The Twins go with a college arm in the 3rd round in righty Brett Renfrow. He is ranked just outside the top 100 on both MLB Pipeline and Fangraphs. It is likely an under slot deal, but the type of pitcher that the Twins system has been severely lacking this year.
Renfrow threw a ton of innings over three seasons at Virginia Tech and was a good strike-thrower with impressive strikeout numbers. It’s an over-the-top release with good extension and a nice array of pitches. His fastball sits low 90s, topping out at 97 with good carry and spin. We’re looking at a good big league fastball if he can consistently get it into the mid 90s. He has a couple breaking balls with an impressive feel for spin. His best secondary is the cutter/slider in the mid 80s. It has the makings of a solid whiff pitch if he can locate it more consistently. Good bite with some late sweep. His curveball in the low 80s gets really good spin and can be an effective third pitch, stealing strikes and keeping hitters off balance. He’s still developing a changeup feel, but showing off some solid fade in the mid 80s.
Like many of these college arms, he looks like a fringy prospect that needs to make some kind of noticeable improvement to really push him into big league territory, which could be added fastball velocity or significant development with one of his secondaries. He likely needs to find success with the changeup in order to stick as a starter, but the carry fastball combined with some high-spin breaking balls gives him a good chance to at league make a major league bullpen. We will get a much better idea of what we are looking at when we get some pitch data and see him in professional action in Fort Myers.
