Missouri State lefthander Ross Detwiler remains a candidate to be drafted among the first 10 picks three weeks from now, but he had one of his shortest outings last night in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. He gave up four hits and walked four in three innings, giving up two runs to Wichita State.

The Bears rallied to win 5-2 without him, and Detwiler’s poor outing may not hurt his stock too much. Two sources have told BA that Detwiler’s outing had more to do with a split fingernail on his index finger, which precluded him from throwing his spike curveball effectively and hindered his command. His fastball also wasn’t as live as usual, though it reached 93-94 mph.

Missouri State’s coaches and trainer made visits to the mound to check on Detwiler’s finger, one scout said, and he finally decided to call it a day after battling for three innings. Detwiler has pitched for a below-average team all year, as the Bears are a disappointing 23-32, and his outing Wednesday dropped his overall numbers to 4-5, 2.22. He still has 110 strikeouts and just 38 walks in 89 innings while limiting batters to a .198 average.

If the split nail was indeed the root of his problems, as it appears to be, Detwiler still figures to be in the mix for virtually every team that picks after the Devil Rays at No. 1 overall.