Rock the Vote: Twins Top Pitchers of All-Time

On Tuesday, many of us voted. Maybe your candidate won. Maybe not. But here at Twins Daily, we also voted for the Top 10 Twins Hitters of All-Time. Generally speaking, the top three players were the same on most ballots. It was also interesting to see how people chose to vote 6-10.

Today, I will present a group of twelve of the best pitchers in the Twins 52 year history. You can see how long each spent with heir Twins, how many innings they pitched and how well they performed. Each is pretty good, but the choice is yours.

Put your ballot in the comments section, ranking them 1-10. In a couple of days, we’ll be sure to tally the votes and see how these pitchers rank.

With that, here are a couple of charts looking at the top Twins pitchers statistically. These lists are alphabetical so as not to provide any bias.

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As you can see, I did include two closers in the analysis. They certainly stand out compared to other relievers. So, how will you vote for them relative to the starters. It’s also fun to see the Adjusted ERA (ERA+) from the various eras. Johan Santana’s 3.22 ERA during the first eight seasons of this millennium shows an ERA+ of 141 while Jim Perry’s 3.15 ERA through the ‘60s and early ‘70s is ‘just’ a 113 ERA+.

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So how important are the number of innings pitched to you in your rankings? In other words, how does Santana’s or Nathan’s dominance over less innings compare to the longevity of pitchers like Kaat and Blyleven? How important is the strikeout statistic to you? In other words, Santana and Nathan are clearly the most dominant pitchers on this list, but the numbers that guys like Perry and Goltz put up while barely striking out a batter every other inning are also incredible. It also speaks to the era they pitched in, when hitters took pride in not striking out.

So, what does your Top 10 list look like? I’ll post mine in the Comments section, but be sure to have your voice heard!