Twins minor league report: Durbin must develop pitches

J.D. Durbin should be pitching at Class AAA Rochester. He mastered Class AA New Britain last season, and impressed Twins coaches so much in spring that they await his arrival to the majors.

Yet Durbin finds himself at New Britain. Why? If he comes to the majors without another pitch to keep hitters from sitting on his 93-mile per hour fastball, he'll be the Jeremy Bonderman of 2004. Bonderman has talent but was 6-19 with Detroit last season, partly because he didn't have a good changeup.

Truth be told, Durbin is mad -- about rumors that he was mad about not opening the season at Rochester. Durbin, after hearing those rumors, marched into the Twins' minor league spring training headquarters and told officials he wasn't mad.

"He came in and said, 'You know me well enough. I'm fine with this. I don't know where this is coming from,' " said Jim Rantz, the Twins director of minor leagues. "He knows we can go down to Double-A and call him up out of there as well as Triple-A."

The charismatic Durbin, some in the organization believe, could be a factor in the Twins' march to a third consecutive American League Central title. But he's got to improve his changeup to go with his fastball and breaking pitch. He's 0-0 with a 3.38 ERA in two starts.

"He's working on all his pitches," Rantz said. "He's a power guy and has to get his command and be more consistent. He showed it to us in spring training. He threw a lot of changeups."

Durbin is in the same rotation with righthander Boof Bonser. Bonser didn't pitch well in camp, missing a chance to start at Class AAA Rochester.

Gassner strong

Gassner is a finesse pitcher who changes speeds well. He's in the Rochester rotation along with righthanders Matt Guerrier, Peter Munro, Brent Schoening and Willie Eyre.

Two to watch

Baker, the Twins' second round pick in last year's draft, was 3-1 with a 2.49 ERA at Class A Quad City last season and looked impressive in camp.

Liriano, acquired with Bonser and Joe Nathan from San Francisco for A.J. Pierzynski, has the makings of a power pitcher. He has a good fastball and slider. "He needs to get some innings in," Rantz said.

In the mix

Span, a center fielder, covers plenty of ground but he's still making adjustments at the plate. Moses recently hit his first home run as a professional and projects to be a high average hitter. He really needs to work on his defense. Both are in their first full-season league, another challenge.