Twins career best K/9

Posted at www.twinstrivia.com earlier.

I watched Clubhouse Confidential on MLB TV yesterday and in one of the show segments host Brian Kenny talked about the climbing rate of the strikeout per 9 innings ratio (K/9) over the years. It was a very interesting piece and Kenny pointed out how last year the leader was Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel who had an amazing 16.66 strikeouts for every nine innings pitched, that is a truly crazy number and he accomplished that while throwing 14.9 pitches per inning. The top starter K/9 ratio belonged to Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg who had a mark of 11.13 and he was followed closely by Detroit Tiger starter Max Scherzer who posted a 11.08 mark. The best K/9 ratio for a Twins pitcher in 2012? That honor goes to closer Glen Perkins at 9.98.

The Twins top ten career K/9 leaders with a minimum of 500 innings pitched are:

http://twinstrivia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Santana-Johan1.jpgJohan Santana pitched for Minnesota from 2000 -2007. Santana is tied for third most wins in Dome history (46) and second-most strikeouts (754). Johan was a three-time All-Star and won Cy Young Awards in 2004 and 2006. Won 17 consecutive games in the Dome from 2005-2007.

[TABLE=class: easy-table-creator tablesorter mceItemTable, width: 100%]

[TH=align: center]Rank

[/TH]

[TH=align: center]Name

[/TH]

[TH=align: center]W/L

[/TH]

[TH=align: center]Innings

[/TH]

[TH=align: center]K/9

[/TH]

[TD=align: center]1.

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Johan Santana

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]93-44

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]1,308.2

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]9.50

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]2.

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Francisco Liriano

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]50-52

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]783.1

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]9.05

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]3.

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Eddie Guardado

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]37-48

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]704.2

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]7.79

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]4.

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Rick Aguilera

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]40-47

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]694

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]7.60

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]5.

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Dick Stigman

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]37-37

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]643.2

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]7.52

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]6.

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Dave Boswell

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]67-54

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]1,036.1

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]7.51

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]7.

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Mike Trombley

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]30-34

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]645.2

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]7.36

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]8.

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Scott Baker

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]63-48

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]958

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]7.23

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]9.

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Bert Blyleven

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]149-138

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]2,566.2

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]7.14

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]10.

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Jim Merritt

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]37-41

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]686.2

[/TD]

[TD=align: center]6.91

[/TD]

[/TABLE]

The players on the above list that were originally drafted or signed by Minnesota are Guardado, Boswell, Trombley, Baker and Blyleven, the remainder were acquired in some fashion.

Jim Merritt? That rattled my memory.

I liked Dave Boswell, too, but mostly because he got in a fight with Billy Martin when Martin was our manager.

Fun list. Reminds us how dominate Liriano could be when he was 'on'. Remember? That one game each month? (the 2005, 2006 numbers don't hurt his average - 12.5/9, 10.7/9)

I had to see how close Nathan was to the list. He was 36 IP short.

464 IP, 562 SO, 10.9 SO/9

If we add the IP without adding any SO, he still leads by a comfortable margin - 10.12 SO/9. (Hey, if it works for the batting title...)

The biggest surprise on the list is Guardado. I especially didn't think he would be ahead of Aguilera.