The Twins used the competitive balance portion of the second round to add a college right-hander, taking Brett Renfrow 73rd overall.
Renfrow comes out of Virginia Tech, where he piled up a lot of innings across three seasons and showed the kind of strike-throwing ability teams like to bet on. He also brought real swing-and-miss stuff, which is part of why he sat just outside the top 100 on both MLB Pipeline and Fangraphs. The fit with Minnesota makes sense, too, especially if this ends up being an under-slot deal and the club can keep adding arms to a system that has been short on this type of pitcher.
The right-hander works from an over-the-top release with good extension, and the pitch mix gives him a few different ways to attack hitters. His fastball lives in the low 90s and has touched 97, with the sort of carry and spin that could make it a legitimate big league heater if he can live more consistently in the mid 90s.
His best secondary is a cutter/slider in the mid 80s, and it has the ingredients to become a solid whiff pitch if he sharpens the location. It shows good bite and some late sweep.
He also mixes in a curveball in the low 80s that spins well and can work as a third pitch, helping him steal strikes and keep hitters guessing. The changeup is still a work in progress, though he has shown some solid fade in the mid 80s.
Like a lot of college arms in this range, Renfrow looks like a fringy prospect who needs a real step forward to separate himself. That could come from added velocity on the fastball or meaningful growth with one of the secondaries.
If he’s going to stay in a rotation, the changeup probably has to come along. If not, the fastball carry and high-spin breaking balls still give him a path to a major league bullpen.
The next real checkpoint will come once the Twins get pitch data and see him in professional action in Fort Myers.
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