The Twins Have Apparently Found The Real-Life Sidd Finch

One of the weirdest baseball stories of the year is about Brandon Poulson, a 24-year-old pitching prospect whom the Twins just plucked from the void for the price of $250,000. Nobody's ever heard of Poulson until now, but if the early stories about him are to be believed, he's basically the non-hoax version of Sidd Finch.

Does Poulson throw over 100 m.p.h.? You bet! Has the kid who has never been drafted been playing for a collegiate summer league team with a ridiculous name, like, say, the Healdsburg Prune Packers? Of course! Did he take a few years away from the game to work at his father's business, which is called—no shitting you—"John's Excavating," from where he likely absorbed the kind of necessary life experience one needs to really make it as an underdog? Yes! Is he some kind of athletic freak who stands at 6-foot-6, has a 40-inch vertical, and can run a 60-yard dash in 6.6 seconds? What do you think?!?

Seriously, get a load of this:

"He's a physical specimen. He's got the best pure arm strength I've ever seen," Twins scout Elliott Strankman said.

Strankman is the only member of the organization who watched Poulson pitch. It took all of 18 throws to convince him.

The Twins are paying this guy about ten times the market value for a typical undrafted free-agent, which raises an eyebrow. Either Poulson really is some kind of legend-in-the-making, or the Twins are betting $250,000 that this is going to get a movie made about them:

The 6-foot-6 right-hander previously played baseball, but chose football at Santa Rosa Junior College. The Twins think Poulson's story could make a great movie.

You can't put a price tag on good publicity, I suppose.

[ AP]