Notes, quotes and comment

Baseball America over the weekend released Mock Draft 3.5. Why 3.5 rather than 4.0 I don't know. But they kept Kyle Wright, Vanderbilt right hander, as the first overall selection, as "the best combination of upside and modest risk." It's the first time they haven't had a different first pick for the Twins.

EPSN's Keith Law also issued a mock draft (behind a paywall) and had the Twins taking Wright:

I’ve heard that the Twins are in on at least four players at No. 1, including Brendan McKay (as a bat or a two-way guy but not just as a pitcher), Mackenzie Gore and Hunter Greene, but the current betting in the industry is that they will take Wright as the prospect with the best combination of floor and ceiling.

I haven't mentioned Gore in any of my draft posts; he's a high school lefty from North Carolina. My guess is that he would only be the pick if

• He agrees to a sharply below slot contract before the draft and
• The Twins have a plan to use the extra money on later picks.

That approach certainly worked for Houston when the Astros took Carlos Correa 1-1 over Byron Buxton.

Draft begins June 12.

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Nick Tepesch, who had one brief start with the major league club in early May, went on the Triple A disabled list with "elbow impingement." With an ERA at Rochester of 5.59 -- which if anything understates how poor his results have been (six homers in 29 innings) -- it's not like he was on the verge of coming back up, but it's another reason to expect the Twins to leave Kyle Gibson and Adalberto Mejia in the rotation for a while.

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Glen Perkins threw to hitters on Tuesday at Target Field. He threw 23 pitches, all fastballs. Chris Gimenez, one of the hitters to face him, said the velocity was in the mid 80s but saw good movement.

Perkins now returns to Fort Myers to continue his rehab. According to the Mike Berardino piece linked to above, the plan calls for a few more live BP sessions at extended spring training followed by a rehab assignment with the Class A Miracle. That sounds like a timeline for a late July return if everything works perfectly.