Twins Daily Twins Pitcher of the Month: June 2022

[Theo Tollefson]

The month of June was a bit of a roller coaster for the Twins pitching staff, but the team maintained their first-place lead in the American League Central even as they had a losing record on the month of 13-15.

 

Three Twins pitchers stood out with their help keeping the team at the .500 mark over the course of the month. Sonny Gray dominated in his three starts for the month of June with a 1.69 ERA in those starts, but being on the IL for half of the month kept him out of the voting for pitcher of the month. 

Without further adieu, here are the top two honorable mentions and winner for the Twins Daily Pitcher of the Month.

Honorable Mention Two: Jhoan Duran
The rookie phenom Jhoan Duran has had another stellar month keeping up his case to make it to the all-star game in July. Duran made ten relief appearances for the Twins in the month of June posting a 1.42 ERA, 10.0 K/9, 1.63 FIP, and 14 strikeouts in 10 relief appearances.

The one outing that kept Duran from being placed higher on this list was his first real scuffle with big-league hitting. It came in his June 9th outing against the New York Yankees where he surrendered two runs to the Evil Empire while only retiring one batter. Since that outing, Duran has not given up a run in 8 1/3 innings of work. 

There’s no telling if Duran will experience burnout next month or continue his dominance as the fastest pitcher in baseball, but Twins fans can take solace in the fact he has been the best reliever for the team during the first three months of the season. 

Honorable Mention One: Griffin Jax
Leading the way for the Twins bullpen in a rocky month of June was sophomore Griffin Jax. In his 12 relief appearances throughout the month, Jax led all Twins relievers in ERA (1.38), opponent AVG (.098), WHIP (0.38), and strikeouts (18). 

Jax’s month of June alone has shown how far he’s come since he was a rookie starter with the team last year. Where Jax previously struggled just to get through more than three innings, he has now become the Twins most effective long reliever. 

The Twins bullpen has many fixes needed for the remainder of the season, but both Jax and Duran have proven themselves as the most reliable arms out of the pen. The Twins will not use them every day during the month of July, but Twins fans should be grateful for what these two provided while other members of the bullpen struggled often. 

Twins Pitcher of the Month: Chris Archer
The resurgence of Chris Archer with the Twins has been a great surprise to many in baseball. Now with the man who has turned Archer’s career around, Wes Johnson, leaving Minnesota for Louisiana State University, it’s only fair to dub Archer as the Twins pitcher of the month for June.

Archer was the anchor of the Twins rotation when Gray and Joe Ryan were on the IL for the first half of the month. June has been Archer’s greatest month of the season to date, even with his innings still limited as he compiled a total of 27 innings, in six starts for the month. 

In those six starts, Archer posted a 1.67 ERA, .156 AVG, 1.04 WHIP, and only gave up two home runs. Archer’s best start of the month came on June 8th against the best team in baseball, the Yankees, where he only allowed two hits and one run in five innings of work. 

Yes, Archer does still have a high walk rate and that was showcased in his final start of the month on June 30 against the Guardians where he walked six batters. But the high walk rate should not be reason to ignore the recognition that Archer deserves for being the stabilizing force of the Twins' starting rotation during a rocky month of pitching. 

What do you think? Would you vote for Archer for Twins pitcher of the month in June, or would you vote for one of the relievers? 

 

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[Otaknam]

A sad commentary on the state of Twins starting pitching when a guy who can’t given you even five innings as a starter is the pitcher of the month. He has shown some bulldog and I like his energy on the mound. And I know the philosophy for SP has changed across baseball. Still, if a starter cannot get through six innings it will tax the BP eventually. 

[Seth Stohs]

Griffin Jax was the easy choice for me. He was completely dominant. So was Duran, but Jax even more. 

Archer was solid, but far too many walks. And yeah, there weren't really any other starting options that made all of their starts. 

[Schmoeman5]

4 innings and 90 pitches per outing doesn't equate to pitcher of the month. In fact I would go the exact opposite and say that Archer and his short starts are one of the biggest reasons for taxing the bullpen. What happened to "slowly stretching his starts" due to his missing spring training?

[joefish]

I think Sonny Grey could end up being our MVP.

[Valdespino]

He’s coming off major arm surgery that most pitchers don’t come back from.  Give him a break.

[h2oface]

We are barely a .500 team, and barely not for June. And Archer is our pitcher of the month? Yikes. 

Sometimes you just sit on the award, and don't have a pitcher of the month. But that is the thing these days. Everybody gets an award, regardless.

[Bigfork Twins Guy]

I’d go with Sonny Gray. He is by far our best starter and although he was not available for all his June starts, he was excellent for those he pitched in.  I alway look forward to his starts.

[Doctor Gast]

Absolutely I'd vote for Archer because he's given us a chance to win every time he's pitches. He has given us the most quality innings for June. The only reason he qualifies is because he's been the healthiest. All the other SPs have been overextended resulting in injuries and ineffective arms. I don't understand those who complain that he doesn't pitch over 5 innings, do they want the whole rotation on the IL? So they can continue to scrap the bottom of the barrel like we did for most of last season. How can you compete that way?