Crain is adding versatility

Twins Class AAA prospect Jesse Crain has the stuff to someday have a chance to pitch in the major leagues. The question is, when will that day come.

Crain is the closer for the Rochester Red Wings, but that doesn't mean he only appears in the ninth inning to preserve a win. Lately, the Twins have had him pitch two innings to finish games.

The reasoning is for him to have more time to find command of his pitches.

"He pitched two innings on Thursday," said Jim Rantz, the Twins' director of minor league operations. "He's starting to put innings together and getting more consistent. That's the bottom line. In that last outing, he threw 25 pitches in those two innings. That's pretty good."

Crain, a second-round draft selection in 2002, throws hard, topping out at 96 mph this season. He also has a hard slider, but eventually he will have to add an offspeed pitch to keep hitters honest.

"When you give a guy a chance to work an extra inning, you really get to see how he's working on his location," Rantz said. "That's what we're trying to get this guy to do. He hasn't been using his change-up that much. He's pretty much a power-oriented guy, which he can do right now because he has a good, live arm."

Crain, who also was a shortstop in high school and at the University of Houston, has 15 saves this season and is 2-2 with a 3.47 earned-run average. Heading into the weekend, he had struck out 46 and walked 13 in 36 1/3 innings.

"Who knows when he'll get called up," Rantz said. "Right from the get-go he has improved on his command. He's pitching really well right now. Again, getting called up depends on the need at the major league level."

Crain is not on the Twins' 40-man roster, meaning a call-up would mean someone on the roster would have to be designated for assignment in the minors, traded or placed on the disabled list.

"That wouldn't prevent us from calling him up if there was a fit for him," Rantz said.

All-stars: Crain, first baseman Justin Morneau and starting pitcher Dave Gassner were selected for the Class AAA All-Star Game July 14 in Pawtucket, R.I. Morneau and outfielder Jason Kubel also will play in the Futures Game on July 12 at Houston's Minute Maid Park, the site of the major league All-Star Game on July 13.

Under the knife: Carlos Pulido, who opened the season on the Twins pitching staff, has a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder and will have season-ending surgery this week.

Top pitching prospect J.D. Durbin, who had his labrum repaired in May, pitched a simulated game in Fort Myers, Fla., Thursday and came away in good shape.

Durbin might be able to return to Class AA New Britain by next week. He began the season 2-0 with a 2.06 ERA before getting injured.

Nice start: Outifielder Deacon Burns had a game to remember in his first week of professional baseball. Burns, the Twins' 26th-round selection in the amateur draft, went 4 for 5 in a game for Elizabethton of the rookie-league Appalachian League.

Burns narrowly missed hitting for the cycle. He hit two home runs, a double and a triple, but couldn't come up with the most common base hit, a single.

Tryout signing: The Twins added first baseman Chris Brown to their Gulf Coast League team after he impressed them in an open tryout in Fort Myers. Brown, who attended Florida Gulf Coast College, ran a 6.7-second 60-yard dash and showed enough athleticism to earn a spot in the minor league system.