Article: Rock The Vote: Twins Top Pitchers Of All-Time

[Seth Stohs]

Download attachment: Joe Nathan.jpg

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.

[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

 

 

[TABLE=width: 432]

Player

Yrs w/Twins

W-L (S)

ERA

ERA+

WHIP

Rick Aguilera

1989-1999

40-47 (254)

3.50

130

1.18

Bert Blyleven

1970-76, 1985-88

149-138

3.28

119

1.19

Dave Goltz

1972-1979

96-79

3.48

112

1.31

Mudcat Grant

1964-1967

50-35

3.35

107

1.21

Jim Kaat

1961-1973

190-159

3.34

110

1.23

Joe Nathan

2004-2011

24-13 (260)

2.16

204

0.96

Camilo Pascual

1961-1966

88-57

3.31

113

1.22

Jim Perry

1963-1973

128-90

3.15

113

1.20

Brad Radke

1995-2006

148-139

4.22

113

1.26

Johan Santana

2000-2007

93-44

3.22

141

1.09

Kevin Tapani

1989-1995

75-63

4.06

108

1.27

Frank Viola

1982-1989

112-93

3.86

111

1.30

[/TABLE]

 

 

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+.

 

 

[TABLE=width: 376]

Player

WAR

Innings

Walks:Strikeouts

K/9

Rick Aguilera

14.6

694

179:586

7.6

Bert Blyleven

46.3

2,566

674:2,035

7.1

Dave Goltz

22.5

1,638

493:887

4.9

Mudcat Grant

5.0

780

163:377

4.3

Jim Kaat

27.2

3,014

729:1,851

5.5

Joe Nathan

17.8

463

134:561

10.9

Camilo Pascual

16.9

1,284

431:994

7.0

Jim Perry

24.2

1,883

541:1,025

4.9

Brad Radke

42.6

2,451

445:1,467

5.4

Johan Santana

34.0

1,308

364:1,381

9.5

Kevin Tapani

17.8

1,171

255:724

5.6

Frank Viola

25.0

1,772

521:1,214

6.2

[/TABLE]

 

 

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!

 

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