Scout's View: Oswaldo Sosa

By Chris Kline
March 26, 2007

Twins righthander Oswaldo Sosa didn't quite crack the top 10 Minnesota prospects last season, but there's no question how much he means to the organization.

The Twins decided to protect Sosa on the 40-man roster last winter after the 21-year-old finished up his season, 4-1, 2.08 at high Class A Fort Myers after beginning the season in low Class A Beloit.

Signed out of Venezuela in 2002, Sosa has grown over the last for years in the system to an imposing 6-foot-4, 225-pound frame. His velocity jumped into the low-to-mid 90s last year and he's been one of this biggest buzzes in Fort Myers this spring . . . not counting Japanese imports.

We caught up with an American League scout to give us the rundown:

"He’s a large-bodied kid, athletic. The big thing with him is getting sink on his fastball because his fastball that would always cut.

"If you look at his career stats, lefties traditionally hit worse against him than righties do because his ball would always cut at the end and guys weren’t prepared for it. That really is good on lefties, but it leaves the ball flat on righties. But he really got good at sinking it, which has helped a ton. It's hard, and it's down.

"Now he’s got one pitch going one way and one that breaks the other way and it really makes for a very interesting character. He’s got a depthy breaking ball to go with that little cut slider and he’s got a changeup. He’s big, he’s strong and he’s throwing harder. He’s going to be all right."