By the end of the week the Minnesota Twins must add their Rule
5 eligible prospects to the 40-man roster in order to protect them from
selection. There are not too many candidates that are considered a lock, but
there’s a dark horse from the 2016 MLB Draft that should absolutely make the
cut.
The name you know by now is Jordan Balazovic. The Canadian
native is arguably the Twins top starting pitching prospect and there’s no way
he won’t be added. As a potential top of the rotation pitcher, protecting him
from another club is common procedure. He could be joined by defense first
backstop Ben Rortvedt, or maybe former high ceiling prospect Wander Javier. The
name that’s less obvious however, and I’d contend it shouldn’t be, is Griffin
Jax.
Drafted out of Air Force Academy in the 3rd round
during the 2016 MLB Draft, Jax is a guy with plenty of upside. He doesn’t have
the heavy fastball, and he isn’t a gaudy strikeout pitcher, but if you want the
next coming of Randy Dobnak-like results it very well may be this kid. Across
250+ minor league innings he owns a 3.18 ERA with a 6.6 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9. In
other words, while he doesn’t mow everyone down, he very rarely gets burned.
Last season Jax, like every other minor leaguer, missed
valuable game development time with the season put on the shelf. In 2019 at
Double-A Pensacola, he worked 111.1 IP and tallied just a 2.67 ERA. While his
three turns at Triple-A Rochester didn’t go as smoothly in the hits and runs
columns, he continued to be an average strikeout arm with the ability to
command the zone and limit free passes.
In just a couple of days Jax will turn 26 years old. He’s essentially
a non-prospect, but plenty of those types contribute in the big leagues. While
the ceiling shouldn’t be expected to be really high, the floor is where the
intrigue lies here. Looking ahead to a season in which teams apparently are
trying to limit payroll, a big-league ready arm on a minimum salary has a lot
of appeal. There’s plenty of pitching-needy teams around the majors, and there’s
no doubt Jax could find himself in an Opening Day rotation.
On the Twins front, the rotation is an area needing to be
addressed this offseason. Gone are the likes of Jake Odorizzi, Rich Hill, and
Homer Bailey. Needing to fill two spots behind Kenta Maeda, Jose Berrios, and
Michael Pineda, the organization will likely turn to the outside for help in at
least one of those roles. No matter what though, a full season (if that’s what
we get in) will require no less than 10 starters to take a turn. Asking Jax to
contribute in one of those spots is a very likely scenario, and one Minnesota
should embrace.
The 40-man roster still has plenty of space on it, and while
the Twins need to add this winter, it’s about quality more than it is quantity
at this point. They should protect Griffin Jax, run him out there in 2021, and
be excited about an arm that will put them in a position for the lineup to win
games.
