With the sixth overall pick in the draft, the Twins have selected Illinois' left-hander Tyler Jay. According to the top three mock drafts, Jay was projected to go within the top ten. Baseball America had the highest opinion of him, and ranked Jay third overall. He'd been rumored to be a potential first overall pick as he would have come in slightly under slot, but the Diamondbacks chose to go with Dansby Swanson and Jay fell to Minnesota.
Jay could be developed as a reliever for the Twins and could make an impact as early as this season, according to reports, meaning that he could be this year's version of Brandon Finnegan. He joins Alex Meyer, J.O. Berrios, Kohl Stewart and and Nick Burdi in a deep Twins' system, but could be a long-term major-league reliever due to the organization's depth.
In 60.1 innings this season, Jay owns an ERA of 0.60, with 70 strikeouts and just seven walks. He held hitters to a .151 batting average, and allowed just 30 hits all season. Jay has primarily been a reliever for Illinois, and saved 14 of their games, but at least a few teams view his potential as a starting pitcher. Keith Law thinks that Jay has the ability to help whatever club drafts him this year, much like Brandon Finnegan did for the Royals, but also views him as a starter long-term.
His fastball sits in the 93-95 MPH range, and has two other plus pitches; his slider and curveball. His changeup is a work in progress, but is showing signs of developing into another out-pitch for Jay. Jay is compared to Billy Wagner, a long-term major-league reliever.