Griffin Jax’s Future Is Up In The Air

FORT MYERS, Fla.—The Twins aren’t sure yet where righthander Griffin Jax will be assigned.

It could be Fort Myers for extended spring training. Or it could be Rookie-level Elizabethton, where Jax pitched in four games last year after being drafted in the third round.

Or he could be sent to Elgin.

That would be the Air Force base in the Florida panhandle. That uncertainty represents the risk the Twins assumed in 2016 when they selected the 22-year-old Jax.

Jax will graduate from the Air Force Academy in May, and he’s not at spring training because the academy requires him to complete his degree first.

Even when Jax does report to the Twins, he owes the U.S. military five years of service, just like all Air Force cadets. How he fulfills that obligation, however, isn’t certain.

“We’ll see what they decide,” vice president for player personnel Mike Radcliff said. “Air Force laid out a deferral policy before the draft last year to allow (Jax) to play, then serve in the reserves during the offseason. But you never know when things might change.”

For Jax, a big change came when his fastball velocity shot from the mid-80s to the mid-90s during his senior year of high school in Greenwood Village, Colo. Drafted by the Phillies in 2013, Jax chose to go to college instead.

He blossomed into an all-Mountain West Conference pitcher at Air Force, where he recorded a 2.05 ERA in 105 innings as a junior.

Jax top out at 95 mph, Radcliff said, but he has a polished changeup that makes his hard stuff even more effective. And as a military graduate, “his makeup and maturity obviously stand out,” Radcliff said.

Jax struck out eight with a 4.15 ERA in 8.2 innings in the Appalachian League last year.

“He’s starting out a little behind, because of his obligations,” Radcliff said. “But if he’s given the chance, our guys think he can climb pretty quickly.”

TWIN KILLINGS

• With Trevor May out with Tommy John surgery, lefthander Adalberto Mejia was making a case for a rotation spot with a spring ERA of 0.87 through 10.1 innings.

• Lefthander Mason Melotakis reported to camp with a strained right oblique, which prevented him from taking part in spring games.

— Phil Miller covers the Twins for the Minneapolis Star Tribune