Cats get another Twins' No. 1 pick

By Ken Lipshez
New Britain Herald Press

NEW BRITAIN - The New Britain Rock Cats announced Monday that right-hander Matt Garza, the Minnesota Twins' first pick in last June's draft, has been promoted from Class A Fort Myers.

Garza will replace left-hander Justin Jones both in the Rock Cats' starting rotation and on the roster. Garza is slated to pitch in New Hampshire against the Fisher Cats on Thursday morning. Jones, who was 2-2 in six Double-A starts, is headed for Fort Myers.

The Rock Cats now have four first-round picks on the roster. Garza joins center fielder Denard Span (2002), third baseman Matt Moses (2003) and left-hander Glen Perkins (2004).

Garza, 22, was 5-1 with a 1.42 ERA in eight starts for the Miracle. In 44 1/3 innings, he allowed just 27 hits and walked 11 while striking out 53. Florida State League hitters managed just a .169 batting average against him.

"When a pitcher gets hot like that, it forces your hand," Rock Cats manager Riccardo Ingram said. "Garza has pitched his way up here and Jones has been inconsistent in his outings."

"Garza's a hard-throwing right-hander who keeps his pitches down in zone with a good, solid fastball in 91-95 range. He's been throwing strikes. ERA is one thing but throwing strikes and going after hitters is more important. He's got a good slider and curve to go with it."

Jones, despite a 3.25 ERA, had only completed six innings once this season. In 27 2/3 frames, he was reached for 30 hits, walked 15 and had six wild pitches. He had four errant tosses in his last game, a 4-2 loss at Bowie last Tuesday.

"(Some of Jones') numbers are good but he's had a tough time getting deep in games," Ingram said. "He needs to go back and work on his command. Maybe he'll get it figured out and come back."

Garza, a 6-foot-4, 185-pounder Californian, was drafted out of Fresno State where he was the Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2005. He was named the Twins' minor league pitcher of the month in April.

He split last season between Elizabethton (short-season Class A) and low-A Beloit of the Midwest League. He was a combined 4-4 with a 3.57 over 14 games at those two stops. He was rated the 10th best prospect in the Midwest League last year and is deemed seventh in the Twins system overall by Baseball America.

The 6-3, 215-pound Jones was acquired by the Twins in a four-team 2004 trading deadline deal that sent Doug Mientkiewicz to the Boston Red Sox and Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs. Jones, the Cubs' second-round pick in 2002 out of Virginia Beach, Va., was 7-3 with a 3.01 ERA for the Miracle last season.

Jones made a positive impact in spring training when he pitched six innings without yielding an earned run three Grapefruit League games. Garza also did well in big league camp, pitching to a 1.23 ERA in four games.