This evening at 6:00 p.m. Central Time, the Rule 4 Draft kicks off. Unlike last year, we won’t have to wait long to hear who the Twins’ first selection is; they go on the clock as soon as the Astros make their decision. And a lot hinges on the ‘Stros pick. If Houston selects Texas native Mark Appel (and MLB Trade Rumors reports they will), that may limit the Twins’ ability to draft a potential top of the rotation hurler, unless they have their eyes on Kevin Gausman or Kyle Zimmer. On the other hand, Houston could theoretically snatch Byron Buxton away from the Twins, which would probably force them to choose a pitcher. TWIT will not be surprised at all if the Twins do select Buxton, since they tend to love toolsy high school outfielders, and since Buxton seems to have very high upside.

The draft is not only the highlight of the week, it’s a chance to make decisions that will affect the team for years, even decades. And it may be the last time the Twins ever have so many opportunities to add impact players. After that number 2 pick, the Twins hold the 32nd and 42nd overall picks in the supplemental round, and they also own Colorado’s second round pick, thanks to the departures of Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer. But due to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, those kinds of compensatory picks could be few and far between in the future. Thus, the sense of urgency to draft franchise cornerstone players is palpable this year.

TWIT’s prediction: The Twins will draft either Gausman or Zimmer second overall, and they’ll use one of the supplemental picks on Rochester high school prospect Mitchell Brown. Also, look for the Twins to stock up on pitchers in the first 10 or 20 rounds.

As for the games, Minnesota opens a three game stretch against fellow AL Central doormat Kansas City tonight. After an off day on Thursday, the Cubs come to town. All in all, this week is a perfect chance for the Twins to pad their stats against some awful teams (of course, the Cubs and Royals might be thinking the same thing).

Weekly Winners:

Francisco Liriano. We don’t want to get too excited about Liriano’s outing against the Athletics. But the guy definitely did enough to earn a slot on the Weekly Winners list. Nine strikeouts and no runs in six innings was about as good of a return to the rotation as Liriano could have made. Let’s see what he does next.

Josh Willingham. He continues to hit. The righty slugger went 8 for 25 (.320) with a pair of homers to put him in the team lead with 10. He also contributed a key double in Sunday’s win.

Oswaldo Arcia. Okay, so technically Arcia isn’t on the Twins’ 25 man roster, but his performance was far too good for TWIT to ignore. At high-A Fort Myers, he produced two 4-hit games and went 12/21 overall with three homers. Check out his weekly slash line: .571/.640/1.048!

Josh Willingham has become a regular guest star on the Weekly Winner list. Photo by Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE

Weekly Worst:

Carl Pavano. It is becoming increasingly difficult to believe there’s nothing physically wrong with Pavano. A bastion of consistency the last two seasons, Pavano has struggled to make it through starts lately. In his one start this week, he lasted just 3.2 innings and let the Indians bang out nine hits. After the game he headed back to the Twin Cities for an MRI, and he may end up on the Disabled List.

Jamey Carroll. Carroll is seeing less playing time now that Brian Dozier is in the picture. His hitting is also starting to suffer. Carroll went just 1 for 13 this week.

Brian Dozier. Dozier has won the starting shortstop job, but there will be growing pains. He hit a not horrible .238 in 21 at bats this week, but he also committed a couple of errors in Sunday’s matchup against Cleveland. Let’s not read too much into the defensive miscues, though; it takes time for a player to adjust to the shortstop position at the MLB level.

Glen Perkins was the last native-Minnesotan taken high in the draft by the Twins. Could another pitcher follow his footsteps this year? Photo by Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE

It seems that every year the Twins manage to draft a few hometown players. Last year they selected Madison Boer in the second round. Boer went to college in Oregon, but he grew up in Eden Prairie. The year before, the Twins chose Gopher catcher Kyle Knudson in the ninth round, and in 2009 they picked U of M 2B Derek McCallum in round four. In previous years, Minnesotans Glen Perkins and, of course, Joe Mauer became first round picks for the Twins.

There are some advantages to drafting local players. First, a local guy has a good chance to become a fan favorite, since fans can identify with his roots, and many may have watched him play before he joined the Twins. Second, the Twins’ scouts may have a slight advantage with Minnesota players. Every baseball team has an extensive scouting operation, but it’s difficult to watch every player in the United States (or increasingly, the world). By virtue of being located in this state, the Twins have more personnel here than any other team, so they may notice things about the local players that nobody else does.

With Minnesota native pitcher Cole DeVries set to make his first MLB start tomorrow, it might be a good time to discuss some a couple native sons who could join the Twins organization very soon.

Mitch Brown, RHP, Rochester Century High School

Brown is just emerging on the national draft radar, and there’s a chance he could end up with the Twins in the Supplemental round of the draft. The high school senior from Rochester went 7-1 this year with a 0.56 ERA and 103 Ks. According to ESPN’s high school website, Brown can throw his fastball up to 95 miles per hour, and he supplements it with a good curveball and promising cutter. Since he’s a high school player who will likely grow a little bit, Brown could conceivably add even more velocity to his fastball in the minors.

T.J. Oakes, RHP, University of Minnesota

Oakes is a few years older than Brown, and he is not nearly as promising a prospect. But we know the Twins like him, because they drafted him last year in the 41st round last year. Oakes chose instead to play his senior year with the Gophers, and it was probably a good decision for him. He was named as a first team All-Big 10 selection. He earned that recognition by going 7-3 with a 2.31 ERA for the U of M. He also led the team with 78 strikeouts in 97.1 innings. Unlike Brown, Oakes will never be able to blow a fastball by a MLB hitter, but according to one site he was hitting 94 on the radar gun last year. Oakes appears to be a control-oriented groundball pitcher of the type the Twins always fall in love with.

Both of these pitchers would be interesting additions to the Twins, though they come into the draft with vastly different expectations. ESPN’s Keith Law has Brown ranked as the 45th best prospect in the country, so he would not be much of a reach with the Twins’ 32nd or 42nd overall picks in the supplemental round. If he were still available when the Twins draft again at number 62 overall, he might be a bona fide steal. On the other hand, Oakes should be a late round pick again, but he should be worth a selection somewhere between the 20th and 40th rounds. It would be silly to draft him much higher, but it would almost be silly to not try to draft him again.

The Twins desperately need to restock their farm system with some starting arms, so they might as well put a couple local guys in the mix.