Twins cut top pitching prospects Jose Berrios and Alex Meyer

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Jose Berrios and Alex Meyer, the Twins' top pitching prospects for the past three seasons, will remain prospects — and not Twins — for at least a while longer.

Both righthanders were sent to Class AAA Rochester on Friday, along with another hard thrower, Nick Burdi, as part of nine cuts made by the Twins as they whittle their roster down for the final two weeks of training camp.

Berrios was impressive but inconsistent, manager Paul Molitor said of the decision to reassign the 22-year-old righthander to the minors to start the season, reducing the battle for the final spot in the starting rotation to just two: Ricky Nolasco and Tommy Milone.

"Now it's down to [a one-on-one] competition," assistant general manager Rob Antony said. "One guy's going to start and one guy's going to be in the bullpen."

Berrios and Trevor May were part of that competition, too, but May was told Wednesday his value as a reliever makes him a better fit in the bullpen.

And Berrios? "He understands that he needs more consistency with his pitches, as minute as that might seem," Molitor said. "His stuff is plenty good, he throws plenty hard. But he needs to polish up his location. His fastball has to stay down."

Berrios, who posted a 2.87 ERA last season between Class AA and AAA, is not on the 40-man roster, but Antony said service-time considerations — the ability to delay arbitration and free-agency eligibility by keeping him out of the majors for part of the season — played no role in the decision. Berrios had a couple of subpar spring outings, particularly an ugly start in a minor league game Tuesday in which he hit two batters and walked three in three innings.

Meyer doesn't know yet where he's going, either — into Rochester's rotation, or its bullpen. His problems controlling his fastball are the same ones that caused the switch to reliever last May; now that he won't make the Twins this spring, the team's decisionmakers must weigh whether to try to move him back to a starter.

"There's close to a split, organizationally, with people who think we should go one way or the other," Molitor said. "I'm in the corner [that believes the] bullpen is probably good for him. He's more or less a two-pitch guy."

Molitor and General Manager Terry Ryan asked Meyer's opinion during their morning meeting, and "he said he really enjoys the relieving. If he had people tell him it would be better for his career to start, I think he's open to doing that," the manager said. "But my impression is he enjoys the adrenalin, getting up and getting ready, getting his name called and coming in there."

Meyer agreed, emphasizing that he'll do whatever the Twins decide. "It's 50-50 right now," he said. But he said he is frustrated that his control problems keep recurring. "It's the same thing as always. If I'm throwing strikes, I'm fine," he said. "If I get behind, no one's going to be successful."

Molitor said he had a suggestion for the young pitcher: Quit thinking.

In addition to the pitchers, Kennys Vargas, who has 14 home runs over parts of the past two seasons for the Twins, was optioned to Rochester, as was infielder Jorge Polanco. Veteran outfielder Joe Benson was reassigned to minor league camp, along with catchers Stuart Turner and Mitch Garver and lefthanded reliever Aaron Thompson.

Burdi was impressive in four outings, Antony said, albeit mostly against minor leaguers, but Twins scouts believe he needs some AAA experience.