Sid Hartman: Twins having tough time developing arms

The Twins overall have not had great success developing pitchers in recent years. This year's staff features only a couple of standouts who were developed in their farm system. Their top starter is Scott Diamond, who was a Rule 5 draft pick from Atlanta last year.

Diamond is 7-3 with a 2.63 ERA after he beat the Royals in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.

Of the Twins' 77 games this season, only 29 have been started by pitchers either drafted or signed as rookie free agents by the team. But what's more troubling is how the starting pitching that has come through the organization has struggled recently.

The organization has had some bad luck with some of the pitchers it developed in recent years, like with Scott Baker, who is out for the season because of Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery. Then the two starting pitchers they drafted in the first round on successive years, Alex Wimmers (2010) and Kyle Gibson (2009), wound up with arm problems as well.

Among this year's starting pitchers that have been in the Twins organization their entire careers, they have a pretty poor collective record.

Eden Prairie native Cole De Vries, whom the Twins signed as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Minnesota in 2006, has pitched the best of anyone directly out of the farm system. After his six excellent innings in the second game of the doubleheader, he is 2-1 with a 3.43 ERA in four games in the majors.

Nick Blackburn, a 29th-round draft pick in 2001, is 4-5 with a 7.74 ERA in 59 1/3 innings this season. Liam Hendriks, signed as a free agent out of Australia in 2007, is 0-5 with a 6.82 ERA in 34 1/3 innings and has yet to win a major league game. Anthony Swarzak (second round, 2004) and Brian Duensing (third round, 2005) have primarily been used out of the bullpen but both have also made spot starts, and combined they are 0-6 with an 8.61 in the six games they have started.

In the bullpen, it's a different story. Glen Perkins (first round, 2004) and Alex Burnett (12th round, 2005) have both been strong this season, and Swarzak and Duensing have been effective as relievers, too. Recent callup Tyler Robertson has shown some promise.

Of course, many of the pitchers who have come from other organizations have had their problems this year, too. Veterans Carl Pavano and Matt Capps are on the disabled list, as is P.J. Walters, who had shown some promise in the rotation before getting hurt. But perhaps one of the biggest surprises this year has been the excellence of Jared Burton, a free agent from the Reds organization.

Big improvement by Diamond The amazing thing with Diamond is the leap he has made from 2011, when he wasn't viewed as a major prospect, although the Twins thought enough of him that they worked out a trade with the Braves to keep him after deciding not to keep him on the major league roster.

Coming into this year, he had posted a career 32-34 record in the minors with a decent 3.78 ERA, but that included a 2011 at Class AAA Rochester where he went 4-14 with a 5.56 ERA. He also started seven games with the Twins last season, going 1-5 with a 5.08 ERA in 39 innings.

But things changed for Diamond at Rochester this year. In six starts, he had posted single-season lows in ERA (2.60), WHIP (1.212) and more important a ratio of only 1.8 walks per nine innings pitched -- a major improvement over his career minor league mark coming into the year of 2.9.

"I feel a little more comfortable this year, so I'm just trying to run with it," Diamond said. "You know obviously definitely Bobby Cuellar, the pitching coach down [at Rochester], helped me a lot. But also just talking with [pitching coach Rick Anderson] last year and how to approach the offseason and what to work on. You know a lot of the staff here, Carl Pavano and talking to Joe Nathan and Nick Blackburn and Scott Baker and all those guys, I think it really helped last year to help me find a redefined curveball."

Injury update Gophers football coach Jerry Kill had good news about three good players who could play a lot this fall but didn't take part in spring practice. Kill said he expects offensive linemen Jimmy Gjere and Josh Campion, both of whom have had concussion problems, to be fully healthy. Kill also has hopes for outstanding linebacker Brandon Beal, who transferred from Florida but ran into a knee problem.

Jottings