Brian Duensing Stats & Scouting Report

IP	762
ERA	4.193
WHIP	1.394
BB/9	3.047
SO/9	6.177

Full name Brian Matthew Duensing
Born 02/22/1983 in Marysville, KS
Profile Ht.: 6'0" / Wt.: 200 / Bats: L / Throws: L
School Nebraska
Debut 04/10/2009
Drafted in the 3rd round (84th overall) by the Minnesota Twins in 2005 (signed for $400,000).

View Draft Report

Duensing's stuff hasn't been the same since an elbow injury cost him most of 2003 and eventually required Tommy John surgery in 2004. He competes with an 86-90 mph fastball and a changeup. He bailed Nebraska out at the Big 12 Conference tournament by pitching well in back-to-back starts, including 7 2/3 scoreless innings in a 1-0 title-game win over Baylor.

Top Rankings

Organization Prospect Rankings

Like Jeff Manship, Duensing had Tommy John surgery in college, and like Manship, he's an organization favorite because of his ability to throw four pitches for strikes. However, his command wasn't as sharp in 2008 as it had been previously, and he had his worst season as a pro. Duensing's best trait is his ability to manipulate his pitches. His fastball sits at 88-90 mph, but he can run it up to 94, particularly when working out of the bullpen, as he did for the bronze-medal U.S. Olympic team in Beijing. He also throws a slow curveball, a hard slider that he can shorten to a cutter or slow down into a slurve, and a changeup that remains his best pitch. The Twins don't pinpoint one reason for his lack of sharpness last season but he couldn't put opponents away when he was ahead in the count. His versatility and outstanding makeup could make Duensing more valuable as a middle reliever, and one club official sees him as a lefthanded version of Matt Guerrier. Middle-relief roles are readily available in Minnesota while the rotation looks less open. Duensing will compete for a bullpen job in spring training after getting added to the 40-man roster in November.
A survivor of Tommy John surgery while in college, Duensing reached Triple-A in his second full season. He led the system with 167 innings, then tacked on a stint with Team USA at the World Cup in Taiwan. He started against Cuba in the goldmedal game and was chased one out shy of earning the victory. Duesning rivals Jeff Manship for having the most polish of any Twins farmhand. He throws strikes with four quality pitches, spotting, sinking and cutting his 87-91 mph fastball to all four quadrants of the strike zone. His changeup grades as above average, helping him combat righthanders, and his average slider yields groundouts. Short and stocky, Duensing will have to monitor his conditioning to make sure he doesn't lose any velocity. He's not particularly athletic, limiting his ability to field his position. His curveball is fringy, though he can spot it for strikes early in the count. Duensing respects hitters but believes he's better than each one who steps to the plate. That makeup has the Twins believing he'll become a solid No. 4 starter, sooner rather than later. If he doesn't force his way into the big league rotation, he'll return to Triple-A to start 2008.
Duensing grew up in Omaha watching College World Series games, then pitched for the Cornhuskers in the CWS himself in 2005. He went 8-0 as a redshirt junior and pitched his way into high draft consideration, though he was surprised when the Twins took him as high as they did. He was a third-round pick even after an injury-interrupted career at Nebraska, which included 2004 Tommy John surgery. Duensing has stayed healthy as a pro with consistent stuff, and his feel for pitching keeps improving. His poor record obscured a year when his above-average control and average command helped him reach Double-A in his first full season. While he doesn't have a putaway pitch, all his offerings--both two- and four-seam fastballs that sit in the upper 80s, a curveball, slider and circle changeup--grade out as average or a tick above at times. He knows how to pitch backward, and his changeup and slider have been go-to pitches. Duensing will have to keep proving his durability and throw his breaking stuff with a bit more velocity to maintain separation between his fastballs and offspeed pitches. In a system fairly short on lefthanders, he'll be given every chance to succeed, and heads back to Double-A to open 2007.

Minor League Top Prospects

The strength of the Twins system remains pitching, and Duensing was part of a talented New Britain rotation that included several other arms who could have made the Top 20. Rock Cats teammate Anthony Swarzak has better pure stuff, but Duensing's makeup and polish prompted more plaudits from league observers. A three-pitch lefthander, Duensing has above-average control and projects to have plus command as he gets further away from the Tommy John surgery he had while in college at Nebraska. He pitches off an 87-91 mph fastball that he cuts and sinks. He also has tremendous confidence in his plus changeup, and he uses his average slider to neutralize lefthanders. Duensing needs to finish his delivery more consistently to keep his stuff down. He doesn't have much margin for error and gets punished when he leaves his stuff up.