Twins great Oliva to be team's Draft representative

ATLANTA -- Three-time American League batting champion and former Twins star Tony Oliva will represent the organization in Major League Baseball's First-Year Player Draft next month.

Oliva and Twins area scout John Wilson will represent the team for the second straight year at MLB Network's Studio 42 in Secaucus, N.J.

The Twins have the No. 4 overall selection in the Draft, which begins on June 6. It comes on the heels of the club having the No. 2 overall pick last year, when they took rising star Byron Buxton.

Oliva, 74, currently serves as a special assistant for the Twins and also is an analyst on the club's Spanish radio broadcasts. The Cuba native is a member of the club's Hall of Fame and had his No. 6 retired in 1991.

He retired as a .304 hitter with 220 homers and 947 RBIs in a 15-year career with the Twins, which still stands as the club's longevity mark. He's the only hitter to win batting titles in his first two full seasons. He was also an All-Star eight straight years from 1964-71, and was the American League Rookie of the Year in '64.

The 2013 First-Year Player Draft will take place from June 6-8, beginning with the Draft preview show on MLB.com and MLB Network on Thursday, June 6, at 5 p.m. CT. Live Draft coverage from MLB Network's Studio 42 begins at 6 p.m., with the top 73 picks being streamed on MLB.com and broadcast on MLB Network. Rounds 3-10 will be streamed live on MLB.com on June 7, beginning with a preview show at 11:30 a.m., and rounds 11-40 will be streamed live on MLB.com on June 8, starting at noon.

MLB.com's coverage includes Draft Central, the Top 100 Draft Prospects list and Draft Tracker, a live interactive application that includes a searchable database of Draft-eligible players. You can also keep up to date by following @MLBDraft on Twitter. And get into the Draft conversation by tagging your tweets with #mlbdraft.