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There are three American League Central teams with a record of .600 or better, and the Tigers were above .500 until they lost four out of five games to the Twins over Labor Day weekend. The Minnesota Twins, to the surprise of most, have been led by terrific pitching. Their starters are solid. But a quick look around the division tells us that offense might be difficult to come by for a while as there are several quality pitchers and pitching prospects who are close.Here is a quick look at what AL Central starting rotations could look like in the years to come. I haven’t included any pitchers who will become a free agent after the 2020 season. I think that you will find that the Twins, and each of the other teams in the division, have a plethora of exciting pitchers and more coming in the near future. Minnesota Twins The Veterans Kenta MaedaJose BerriosMichael PinedaMaeda had been really good for the Dodgers the past four years, but he has probably never been better than he has been in his eight starts for the Twins this year. He is under team control through the 2023 season. Berrios, the 26-year-old, two-time All Star struggled early in the season but he’s proven himself over time and should remain in the Twins plans for years to come. He could be a free agent after 2022, but the Twins may want to lock him up before then. Pineda just came back from his 60-game suspension. The Twins signed him to a two-year deal last offseason, so he’ll be back in 2021. Rich Hill and Jake Odorizzi will be free agents after this season. The Newbies Randy DobnakDevin SmeltzerLewis ThorpeAll three of these guys made their debuts in 2019, each showing enough promise to compete for roster spots in 2020. Dobnak was given the first shot this season and has made the best of it. He is 6-2 with a 2.72 ERA going into Tuesday’s start. Smeltzer has filled the role of long reliever or “primary” pitcher. He was optioned on Monday. Thorpe has struggled, but most would say he’s still got some ceiling. The Prospects Jhoan DuranDakota ChalmersJordan BalazovicDuran and Chalmers were easy choices last fall to add to the team’s 40-man roster. In one of the televised intrasquad games of Summer Camp, both pitched and showed Twins fans just how exciting their futures are. Both have big potential as top-of-rotation starters. The Twins top pitching prospect is Balazovic, who joined them at the Twins alternate site in St. Paul this weekend. All three could debut in 2021. And Jorge Alcala sure looks like a high-leverage bullpen arm for years to come. Cleveland The Veterans Shane BieberCarlos CarrascoSimply put, Shane Bieber is the best pitcher in the American League. Yes, even (possibly) better than Gerrit Cole (maybe). Bieber won’t even be arbitration-eligible until 2022. He’s still just 25, as well. Carrasco has been good throughout his career when he is healthy. He’s signed for two more seasons plus an option for 2023. The Newbies Aaron CivaleZach PlesacAdam PlutkoCivale and Plesac are two examples of the pipeline that Cleveland has developed. Neither was a big-name prospect and both have shown early in their careers that they will be effective MLB pitchers. Neither will even be arbitration-eligible for two more years. Plutko hasn’t had the same level of success, but he has had several strong showings. The Prospects Triston McKenzieJames KarinchakWe’ve seen what James Karinchak can do out of the bullpen. Clase came to the organization in the Corey Kluber trade. He got suspended, but his stuff is on par with Karinchak. Triston McKenzie has come up and been very impressive. The supplemental first-round pick in 2015 is 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA in 16 innings over his three MLB starts this year. He has 19 strikeouts and four walks. Lefty Sam Hentges, from Mounds View High School in Arden Hills, reached Double-A in 2019. Chicago White Sox The Veterans Lucas GiolitoDallas KeuchelReynaldo LopezGiolito has reached the potential that made him a possible #1 overall pick in 2012 before having Tommy John surgery his senior year of high school. It took awhile with the Nationals and the White Sox, but he has become an All Star, been consistent and recently threw his first no-hitter. Keuchel is in Year 1 of his three-year deal and continues to live on control and command. Lopez has been around a bit and hasn’t been able to harness what is really good stuff. The Newbies Dylan CeaseAfter struggling to a 5.79 ERA in 14 starts as a rookie last year, Cease has settled in in 2020. He’s 5-2 with a 3.29 ERA despite 20 walks and 28 strikeouts in 41 innings. The Prospects Michael KopechDane DunningGarrett CrochetBlessed with a triple-digit fastball, Kopech has long been a high-ranking prospect. He debuted with four games in 2018 but then underwent Tommy John surgery. He was set to return this season, maybe even opening day, Dane Dunning also had Tommy John surgery in 2018. He missed 2019. In three starts for the White Sox this year, he’s got 18 strikeouts in 14 innings. In addition, the White Sox took lefty Garrett Crochet from the University of Tennessee with the fifth overall pick in the 2020 draft, and he could be a fast-mover. Detroit Tigers Matthew BoydMichael FulmerSpencer Turnbull,Boyd has struggled in 2020, but he has experienced a lot of success the last two seasons. Michael Fulmer has missed time due to Tommy John surgery and is just coming back, but he was great when he won the Rookie of the Year award a few years ago. Turnbull had a bad record in 2019, but having watched him a lot, he’s got good stuff too. The Prospects Casey MizeTarik SkubalTyler AlexanderMatt ManningAlex FaedoThe Tigers have some very impressive pitching prospects. Casey Mize was the top pick in the 2018 draft out of Florida and he has now made four MLB starts. Tarik Skubal was their ninth round pick in 2018 out of Seattle University. He sure has looked good against the Twins these past two weekends. Those two are Top 100 prospects. So is Matt Manning who spent 2019 in AA and is in the same prospect category. In addition, Tyler Alexander is another left-hander with good stuff. Also in the Tigers bullpen is Kyle Funkhouser who has struggled with control, but he was very highly touted earlier in his college and professional career. Alex Faedo (nephew of former Twins great Lenny Faedo) was their first-round pick in 2017, and he reached AA in 2019. Oh, and they just added Coon Rapids native Logan Shore to their 60-player pool. Kansas City Royals The Veterans Danny DuffyBrad KellerJakob JunisDanny Duffy has been a part of the Royals rotation for more than a decade. He’s got another year on his current contract. Keller has gradually taken on a bigger role the past three years, from bullpen work, to back-end starter to being strong in 2020. Junis has won nine games each of the past three seasons. He won't get anywhere near there this year as he is yet to earn a win. The Prospects Brady SingerKris BubicAsa LacyDaniel LynchJackson KowarJosh StaumontThe Royals have certainly gone the direction of college pitchers with high picks in recent years and those picks are just starting to show up. Brady Singer (18th overall, Florida) and Kris Bubic (40th overall, Stanford) were both selected in the first 40 picks of the 2018 draft. They are a combined 1-9 right now, but both have shown enough to be considered part of the future. Also from the 2018 draft are Jackson Kowar (33rd overall, Florida), Daniel Lynch (34th overall, Virginia)and Austin Cox (5th round, Mercer) all have potential and have pitched at AA already. In addition, we have seen what Josh Staumont can do out of the bullpen and they just called up another prospect in Carlos Hernandez and pitched him in the bullpen. Oh, and they took Asa Lacy with the fourth overall pick in June from Texas A&M, and he has the potential to move very quickly. So, while the Twins have seen some strong pitching in 2020 from AL Central teams, there are a lot of really good, young pitchers who will be in the division for years to come. As talented as some of the pitchers who have debuted so far ini 2020 have been, there are many more high-ceiling prospects who should be debuting in the near future too. The Twins have a lot of high-ceiling hitting prospects. We have already seen Ryan Jeffers and Brent Rooker. We know that Alex Kirilloff and Trevor Larnach are likely not far behind. But the Twins have high-ceiling prospects such as Jhoan Duran, Dakota Chalmers and Jordan Balazovic to counter the great pitching prospects from other division teams. The AL Central is already a solid division, and over the next several years, it may be able to compete with others for the best division in baseball. Click here to view the article

After what was arguably the most impactful series of the year thus far, the Minnesota Twins have now put the AL Central Division on ice. With a magic number at nine, and 13 games left against the divisional doldrums, all eyes are on October. The first opponent of the final homestand in 2019 is none other than the Chicago White Sox. Doubling up on them thus far, Rocco Baldelli’s club gets their final three cracks at Rick Renteria’s squad.Brief Overview: When you play any team 19 times in one season you’re going to get to know them quite well. Chicago knows the Twins are what they aspire to be (in a few years), and Minnesota is familiar with the up-and-coming names on the White Sox. Luis Robert did not garner a September look, so this is the same squad we’ve grown accustomed to. What They Do Well: At 65-84 it’s not shocking that there’s very little the White Sox do well. These two teams last played against each other on August 29th so it’s worth trying to isolate the numbers since that point. Over the past few weeks the White Sox own the 10th best offense in baseball. That’s actually superior to the Twins, which isn’t surprising given what Minnesota has had to run out there. There isn’t a specific category that truly jumps off the page for Chicago in that time, but they have done a great job hitting for average. With a .272 batting average they have the fifth best tally dating back to the 30th. What They Do Not Do Well: Pitching has been pretty middle of the road for Chicago since the end of August. Lucas Giolito has continued to look the part of a staff ace and that’s helped to anchor a group that’s definitely lacking as a whole. Where Chicago really falls off, as has been the case most of the year, is in the field. You can’t isolate defensive metrics over a sample size so small, but the White Sox have been 25th in fielding over the course of the season. They have a whopping -59 defensive runs saved and have a whole collection of guys that struggle to provide any range. It’s a dated stat, but only the Seattle Mariners have made more errors than Chicago’s 111, and that many miscues is hardly a positive. Individuals Of Note: The same names you’ve gotten to know all year are worth mentioning again in this space. Eloy Jimenez is the big-bat prospect that Chicago is pinning its future hopes on. Lucas Giolito is that late-blooming arm that has developed into a staff ace, and now looks like one of the best starters in baseball. Tim Anderson has electrified the sport and provided plenty of excitement all year long. If there’re two guys that have flown a bit under the radar in terms of recognition, it’s James McCann and Yoan Moncada. The former was an All-Star (because Mitch Garver wasn’t on the ballot), and has fallen off in the second half, but he’s having a career year. The latter is a former superstar prospect that has finally met expectations and looks the part of a franchise cornerstone. McCann will need to substantiate the 2019 results, and Moncada will also, but it’s Yoan that can be a guy you build around. Recent History: Minnesota swept Chicago at the end of August on the road but dropped two of three the week before at Target Field. On the season, the Twins have gone 11-5 against the White Sox and they own a healthy +59 run differential. Recent Trajectories: The Twins wrapped up their last difficult stretch of the season going 6-6 against the Red Sox, Nationals, and Indians. Chicago is 4-6 across their last ten and have been losers in each of their last two. Pitching Matchups: Monday: Berrios vs Lopez Tuesday: Perez vs Giolito Giolito now done for the year with a lat strain Wednesday: Odorizzi vs Covey Ending Thoughts: There’s no denying that Minnesota should have a healthy amount of wins awaiting them in this final 13 game stretch, but the reality is they still need to play the games and compete. The Twins bumped Jose Berrios to get another day of rest, and they should prioritize getting ready for October. They’ll get solid tests against Lopez and Giolito though, so dropping the series is something they should be keyed in on avoiding. I don’t see a sweep, but Minnesota needs to assert some home dominance against bottom feeders the rest of the way. Take two and call it good. Click here to view the article

After a huge night from the Minnesota Twins’ offense that was led by Nelson Cruz, and a perfect night from the bullpen, the Twins were set up to win the series today as Jake Odorizzi faced off against Lucas Giolito. Odorizzi ran into trouble early and Giolito sailed through the Twins’ lineup as the White Sox take a series in Minnesota. For the Mets, Marcus Stroman gets his second chance against the Indians in less than a month to help the Twins and keep their lead at three games.Box Score Odorizzi: 5 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 62.5% strikes (65 of 104 pitches) Bullpen: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: None Bottom 3 WPA: Rosario, Arraez and Castro -.055, Sano -.056, Odorizzi -.163 Giolito Sails to Complete Game Giolito absolutely cruised through the Twins offense today after getting some early runs from his offense. He used those first-inning runs and first-pitch strikes to really settle down and go deep into today’s game. Giolito struck out 12 batters, his third straight game with 10+, and got first-pitch strikes on 22 of the 30 batters he faced. The first time through the Twins’ order, Giolito gave up just one hit, which was to Polanco in the first on a bunt, and struck out five batters. The Twins picked up their second hit in the fourth on a rocket by Nelson Cruz that had an exit velocity of 117 MPH, but Giolito got two outs on the next two batters. He worked through the fifth and sixth innings very rapidly, using only eight and nine pitches, respectively, to get two more 1-2-3 innings. In the seventh inning, it took him 12 pitches to get the 1-2-3 mostly because Cruz worked a full count then drilled a ball straight to Engel in center field. He had two very impressive streaks of consecutive batters sent down. After the Polanco bunt single, he set down the next nine batters before Cruz picked up his single. Rosario reached on a fielder's choice the next at-bat and then Giolito sent down the next 11 batters including three straight 1-2-3 innings. It wasn’t until Schoop hit a double with one out in the eighth that the Twins’ had their first runner in scoring position. They failed to do anything with it as Giolito picked up two more strikeouts to end the inning. Giolito completed this game while facing the Twins’ top three hitters picking up two more strikeouts on Kepler and Cruz. Odorizzi’s Bad Luck If you just looked at the box score, you’d get a different view of how today’s game went for Odorizzi. Odorizzi struggled to retire the first batter of innings which helped lead to a short start and the White Sox hitters also seemed to be finding the perfect spots for their hits. But, Odorizzi also was throwing some good pitches that hitters were putting in play for hits. In the first inning, Polanco missed touching second base on a double-play attempt which was originally called a FC, but changed to an error on Polanco, his 17th this season. Jose Abreu reached on 2-2 cutter, poking the ball into left field for the White Sox to score their first run. After a wild pitch, Skole also found himself in a 2-2 count, and a hit a blooper over second with an exit velocity of 67.7 for the Sox's second run of the inning. In the third, Odorizzi again gave up a leadoff single, and two singles later, which included Abreu’s second RBI of the game on a ball that landed perfectly in right field between Cave and Schoop with an expected batting average of .050. After three innings, the White Sox had seven hits, all singles, with only two of them being hard-hit, and three runs. In the fifth inning, Odorizzi gave up another leadoff hit, but this time for a double. After getting a strikeout and a groundout, Odorizzi looked as if he would be able to pitch around this. He threw another wild pitch and Abreu was able to come around to score. Odorizzi was able to strike out Goins to end the inning, but this is definitely a start Odorizzi is going to want to forget. Bullpen Solid Again A night after the bullpen had a perfect two innings to help secure the win, the bullpen again was shut-down today, though Giolito’s very solid outing kept the offense at bay. Ryne Harper was the first one out of the pen and ran into some trouble after a leadoff double, wild pitch and walk, putting himself in a jam. He was able to pick up a huge fly out and strikeout, then Polanco made an amazing snag to end the threat and inning. Then it turned to Sam Dyson and Tyler Duffey who each had quick and easy 1-2-3 innings. Dyson looked really solid, and since coming back from injury, has given up just one run in five innings. Duffey came in for the eighth and struck out two hitters and hasn’t given up a run in his past 11 outings. Trevor May got the ninth inning and struck out the first batter he faced, then gave up a single, but got an infield fly out and a fly ball to Arraez to end the inning. May has now only given up one earned run in his last 11 innings. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet Click here for a review of the number of pitches thrown by each member of the bullpen over the past five days. Click here to view the article

After a winning series (and technically homestand) against the Rays that unfortunately ended with an absolutely brutal 18 inning loss, the tired Twins will head over to Chicago for a three-game series. Somehow this is the first time all year that they will play in Chicago and just the second time they will play the White Sox this year despite being, you know, in the same division and all.Brief Overview Out of the triforce of tanking AL Central teams, the White Sox have pulled ahead of the dreadful Royals and the atrocious Tigers as a solidly below-average team, somehow a step up over the aforementioned squads. Despite ultimately coming up short in the Machado sweepstakes and being relatively quiet over the offseason except for signing Kelvin Herrera, the White Sox have taken a small step forward thanks to a few internal players realizing their potential along with the help of a breakout from a familiar but unlikely catcher. With a record of 37-41 and a pythag W/L of 33-45, the White Sox will look to be an annoyance to a Twins franchise that is all too familiar with scrappiness. What They Do Well In digging through their team numbers, it became obvious that there really is not one thing that this team excels at but there are not many things that they do horribly, just a constant below-average squad by most major metrics that I could find. They are very good at running the bases as Fangraphs has their team baserunning as the sixth best in all of baseball, somehow above the pesky Royals that just gave the Twins some fits not too long ago. They have the 11th-most steals in baseball which isn’t ridiculously high, so most of their quality baserunning can probably be attributed to them taking extra bases on balls in play while not running themselves into outs. That’s it, honestly. I could not actually find much that was notable as far as what this team does notably well. They have the second highest offensive batting average on balls in play (BABIP) in baseball at a .320 mark (Denard Span’s Twins BABIP was .320) which is certainly interesting but I don’t know how much of a skill that is. I guess just keep in mind that they might have some better “luck” on balls being put into play than the Twins. What They Do Not Do Well Everything? Again, they aren’t truly horrendous in a lot of categories, but often they fall in the 20th-25th range when being compared to the rest of baseball. Their team wRC+ of 92 is 20th in all of baseball and just 2 points lower than Luis Castillo’s Twins wRC+. Their team FIP is 25th in baseball at 4.91 which is slightly worse than Tommy Milone’s Twins FIP of 4.85. Their pitching staff as a whole hold the second worst BB/9 in baseball at 3.85 which is just a hair better than what Kohl Stewart has done in his Twins career so far (3.93 BB/9 for Stewart). Their defense ranks as the eighth worst in baseball which when combined with their pitching staff’s walk rate could mean that the White Sox might beat themselves more often than the Twins beat them as they will most likely shoot themselves in the foot quite a few times. Individuals Of Note I mentioned before that the White Sox have had a few players from the inside who have broken out this year and that remains true even after about a page and a half of typing. Yoan Moncada has hit to the tune of a 130 wRC+ and has already put up a career high 2.5 fWAR (this does come with a sky high .387 BABIP). Tim Anderson has a career high 120 wRC+ and is knocking on the door of a new career-high in fWAR (1.8 now, 2.1 in his rookie year) but this also comes with a high BABIP of .373. Longtime Tigers catcher and All-Star starter voting finalist James McCann has almost doubled his career wRC+ as he currently sits at a 143 mark thanks to a few mechanical changes in his swing. But, and stop me if you have heard this, this comes with a frankly insane .413 BABIP (gee, I wonder why their team BABIP is so high…). Unfortunately for the White Sox, both Anderson and Moncada suffered injuries recently and their status for the series is up in the air. On the pitching side, the big story has been the breakout of Lucas Giolito who has put aside a terrible 2018 season and has dropped his ERA by over half (6.13 in 2018, 2.87 in 2019) with the peripherals to support it. So far he has been the ninth most valuable starting pitcher in baseball by fWAR with the same 2.8 mark that José Berríos currently holds on the year. There have been a number of changes that Giolito made thanks to winter spent with his high school pitching coach, but most notable has been an arm action that hides the ball better and an increased emphasis on his changeup. Right now it looks like he will pitch the Sunday game so be prepared for a much better Giolito than we all saw last year. Recent History Since this is only the second time these teams have matched up this year, there is not much recent history to go off of. The Twins and White Sox faced off at Target Field in a series that started on May 24th and the Twins were ruthlessly efficient in beating them by seven runs in each game. Ending Thoughts As I said in my last write-up, road divisional series are never anything to take for granted, the other team will also be looking to play spoiler and weird stuff tends to happen. The White Sox are a passable squad (less so if Moncada and Anderson miss time) and I can absolutely see them giving the Twins a good fight especially in the Sunday game with Giolito on the mound. I expect the Twins to take two but I also would not be shocked if the White Sox took two instead, especially depending on the roster moves after that 18-inning nightmare the Twins just played and the injuries they are currently nursing. But however it goes, I just pray for everyone’s sanity that no game goes into extras. Click here to view the article