Righthander Nick Burdi, the organization's top relief pitching prospect, will start the season on the disabled list because of right forearm tightness.

Burdi was shut down for a few days last week because of the tightness, and the club believes the rest helped him recover. But the Twins are going to slowly build him back up before they let him begin his minor league season, so he is out indefinitely.

UPDATE: Twins hope Burdi is ready in two weeks.

Forearm problems can be a precursor to elbow ligament damage. Fans don't like to read that, but that is the case. But it's also true that the injury never develops into ligament issues.

The Twins were going to start Burdi at Class AA Chattanooga when the injury was diagnosed.

Burdi was brought to major league spring training camp this year for the first time. While he showed a powerful fastball that hit 99 miles an hour on the radar gun and a biting slider, he left pitches up in the strike zone too often. Still, Burdi didn't seem to be far away from his shot at the majors.