With the Twins having a severe need for pitching in the organization as well as six picks among the top 100, it is certain that more than one of those picks (and probably the second overall pick) will be used to draft a pitcher. To this respect, I am presenting profiles of the top 22 pitching prospects for the 2012 MLB draft.

I will be presenting these alphabetically, and at the end I will rank them. I will be doing about one a day and I will finish before the June 4th draft day. You can find all the profiles (in reverse alphabetical order) as they are presented here.

I will start with RJ Alvarez and end with Kyle Zimmer. Each profile with contain a bit of background information and statistics, a mini scouting report and videos and photos.

RJ Alvarez

Profile/Stats:

RJ Alvarez is a junior in Florida Atlantic University and a three-year player there. He is from Royal Palm Beach FL and went to Cardinal Newman High School. He was a first team all conference in both his junior and senior high school seasons and an all area selection in his senior season. He begun his collegiate career in the pen as a Freshman, but quickly moved to the rotation. He is listed as 6'1" and 180 lbs. He throws right handed. In his current season he is used in the pen and is 5-0 in 20 appearances (31.2 IP) with a 0.57 ERA, 9 BB and 42 strikeouts allowing a .156 opponent batting average. Last summer in the Cape Cod league, as a starter, he had a 1.40 ERA, 25.2 IP, striking out 33 and walking 9, allowing only 14 Hits (.181 OBA)

Mini Scouting Report:

His fastball averages around 94 with occasional busts at 96-97 and he has good command. His change up is a plus pitch and his curve ball is developing. His delivery is effortless and somewhat deceptive. He is throwing from a three-quarters position.

Videos/Photos:

Because of the difficulty in embedding videos here, please go to the original post to see 3 videos of RJ Alvarez Pitching.