Minnesota Twins scout discusses Kelly

Mark Wilson, the Minnesota Twins' Midwest and Canadian area scout, answered a few questions from the Republican Eagle's Ryan Nilsson via e-mail about Pat Kelly and the first-year player draft. Kelly is a senior-to-be at Red Wing High School and the newspaper's all-area baseball player of the year. As the Midwest scout, Wilson is responsible for Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, the Dakotas and Nebraska.

According to Kelly's dad, Jim, the Twins invited Kelly to a showcase at Target Field in early August. Jim Kelly said he's not sure if his son will be in town for the event.

How well do you know Pat? How many times have you observed him and in what situations have you seen him?

I have seen Pat play since his sophomore year. That seems to be the age when most are physically ready to show their baseball ability and are playing at the varsity level.

Pat has been polite when I've spoken with him. Monday night on the phone everything was "No, sir" and "Yes, sir." John Anderson, one of his coaches with the Minnesota Baseball Academy, raved about his character. How heavily do you consider a player's character? Would a player's character improve his rankings or is that the kind of thing that just prevents him from moving down in your rankings?

Character, or makeup as we refer to it, is as important as the physical tools. That can determine a player's success or failure and quality makeup can also play up some lesser tools and abilities.

Now that Nebraska has decided to move to the Big Ten, Pat has expressed second thoughts about playing for Nebraska. How big of an impact does a player's conference have on his development? How does it affect his value in the eyes of a scout and major league teams?

For us it does not matter what team a player is on.

Led by Billy Beane, it seems teams have emphasized drafting college players more and more. If you see that trend persisting, how much do you think that will matter to Pat's draft status in 2011?

Billy Beane brought up the "Moneyball" theory. It was only followed by a few teams and has since started to disappear. His philosophy was to draft on stats, which can be skewed by many variables and levels of play. We take the best player available.

To read more about Kelly, pick up Wednesday's newspaper.

Tags: red wing, minnesota twins, mark wilson, pat kelly, sports, prep, baseball, wingers