Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month - April

Each month here at Twins Daily, we will be posting choices for Twins minor league relief pitcher, starting pitcher and hitter of the month. First, I want to share with you some of the top relief pitchers in the Twins minor league system in the month of April. I'll follow up over the next 24 hours with the starting pitcher and hitter of the month.

What are we looking for to help determine these rankings? Well, as you can see, Win-Loss record means nothing in my mind. ERA is nice but doesn't account for inherited runners scoring. I think WHIP is pretty important because not allowing base runners helps not allow runs. Walks and strikeouts are nice, and even innings pitched factors in because often the sample size is quite small.

However, let's start with the Top 6 Relief Pitchers in April:

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Number 6 – Ft. Myers – Ricky Bowen - 8 G, 1.96 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 18.1 IP, 18 H, 2 BB, 17 K, .269 BAA

Number 5 - Beloit – Michael Tonkin - 8 G, 0.64 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 14.0 IP, 11 H, 3 BB, 14 K, .216 BAA

Number 4 - Rochester – Anthony Slama - 8 G, 0.79 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 11.2 IP, 6 H, 8 BB, 18 K, .158 BAA

Number 3 – Beloit – AJ Achter - 7 G, 0.56 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 16.0 IP, 8 H, 5 BB, 19 K

Number 2 – Ft. Myers/New Britain – Caleb Thielbar - 8 G, 0.00 ERA, 0.55 WHIP, 12.2 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 16 K, .098 BAA

And the Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month is:

New Britain/Rochester – Deolis Guerra - 8 G, 0.57 ERA, 0.57 WHIP, 15.2 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 17 K

So what do you think? I’ve listed six players here and there are a few bullpen guys in the Twins farm system that could (should?) be recognized for their great start to their 2012 season. Who would your choice be? How would you rank these guys (and feel free to include others)?

Be sure to check back later for the April Starting Pitcher and Hitter of April.