Twins Daily Pitcher of the Month: April 2023

[Theodore Tollefson]

The Twins' pitching staff carried them into first place to open up the 2023 season, but which Twins pitcher had the best month of April?

Image courtesy of Thiéres Rabelo

While there were many pitchers in the Twins rotation and bullpen who had solid starts in 2023, such as Caleb Thielbar posting a 1.93 ERA in 10 relief appearances, or Tyler Mahle having a few solid starts before going on the Injured List. 

There were three Twins pitchers who really set themselves apart as the top of the pack in April. Here’s how they rank. Feel free to discuss in the Comments. 

Honorable Mention #2: Joe Ryan
Joe Ryan needs only his fastball, split finger, and sweeper to keep hitters guessing and off-base. Hitters only had a .186 average against Ryan in 32 innings across his five April starts. 

Ryan may not be leading the Twins rotation in strikeouts - Pablo Lopez leads the way with 46 so far - but he has shown the best command of the strike zone out of any starter, walking only four batters in his five starts so far. 

With 36 strikeouts and just four walks, Ryan’s K/BB sits fourth best in all of baseball at 9.0. He trails only George Kirby (12.0), Jacob deGrom (11.3), and Zac Gallen (10.2).

A stellar command of the strike zone and his new pitch and pitch mix have kept Ryan progressing after a solid rookie campaign in 2022, but there is still room for growth in his sophomore campaign. Who knows? That could keep him on these monthly lists of Twins best pitchers in the coming months. 

Honorable Mention #1: Jorge Lopez
Lopez has had a major turnaround from his short time with the Twins after being acquired from the Orioles at the 2022 trade deadline. 

He has opened the 2023 season with 13 scoreless appearances, making him the ninth pitcher in franchise history to do so. The last Twins reliever to accomplish it was Joe Smith, just last season, and his streak extended to 16 games. 

On top of that, Lopez has only walked one batter in the 12 innings so far this season. He has had a lot of quick innings with a lot of quick outs. He has 10 strikeout to counter just one walk.  

Lopez is a rare reliever with a five-pitch arsenal, which he developed over years as a starter, and outstanding command of the strike zone. Lopez’s feats haven’t gone unnoticed by fans. He has anchored himself as the setup man to Jhoan Duran in the Twins bullpen, but his performance in April could only be topped by one man. The one who is leading all MLB starters in ERA. 

Pitcher of the Month: Sonny Gray
Sonny Gray finds himself on top of the baseball world right now when it comes to earned run average. No starting pitcher has allowed fewer runs than Gray in the first month of the 2023 season. Hopefully he can maintain this level of success into May and beyond. 

Gray’s competitiveness has been at the forefront of his success throughout his career, but especially throughout the entire month of April. His clearly audible grunts with every pitch thrown is a telltale sign that he gives everything he has to each and every pitch.

He’s one of only four players with a bWAR over 2.0 to start the season with only Gerrit Cole (2.3 bWAR) ahead of him as Gray is tied at 2.1 bWAR with Shohei Ohtani. 

Gray has had only one month in his career where his ERA was lower than 0.77. That was in August of 2019 when he posted a 0.74 ERA in 36 2/3 innings across six starts for the Reds. 

The most phenomenal stat of them all from this month may just be his ERA+ as it leads all pitchers in baseball at 567. This places him 467% lower than the league-average starter. The next closest pitcher to him in ERA+ is Cole, who sits at a 395 ERA+ to start his season. 

There’s no telling how the rest of the year will play out for Gray but this is his best start to a season in his career. The expectations are high for where his season can go from here. 

What do you think? Would you rank these three pitchers the top for the month? Is this how you would rank them? Leave your thoughts in the COMMENTS below. 

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[Nine of twelve]

Gray? Really? What a surprise!😉

[ashbury]

14 minutes ago, Theo Tollefson said:

No starting pitcher has allowed fewer runs than Gray in the first month of the 2023 season.

Sonny Gray has given up 3 runs this year.  Bailey Ober has given up 2. 

[JD-TWINS]

Good list - fun to have guys with these types of stats!

I wrote in TD about 7-8 days ago about how I was a new believer in Jorge López after wanting he & Pagan gone after last summer …..he had pitched 10 1/3 at that time & looked flawless to that point. I’m nervous now though. I get that guys aren’t going to be perfect nor even average all the time. However, I’ve seen his last couple appearances and they harken back to his time last year with Twins. He loaded the bases & narrowly escaped 2 outings ago - last time out he gave up a runner that Jax had walked, needing one out in 8th………..he’s just looked a little different trying to locate in recent couple appearances……he’s going to give up runs eventually I just hope he doesn’t revert to 2022 Jorge, his stuff is too good for that.

Great pitching month!

[Squirrel]

No surprise whatsoever.

[Aerodeliria]

Four ⭐⭐⭐⭐ review!

[Mike Sixel]

So much more fun to read than "well, we had to pick someone.".....

[minman1982]

The ERA+ stat is probably the most telling of how dominant Gray has actually been in the month of April. 567 is an absurd number that probably should be on someone's video game system, not a real life thing. It is worth noting that he faced both Houston and New York this season and pitched a combined 14 innings striking out 21 batters while giving up 7 hits, 1 ER, and 3 BB. That is a 0.64 ERA and 0.714 WHIP against two good offenses.

I know he is just one clunker start away from blowing all this up and he is simply on one of those great runs that happens to players every now and then. Let's bask in the greatness we are seeing while it lasts. 

[roger]

Remain hopeful that Gray will maintain this level of pitching well into the season.  Yes, he is going to have a couple clunkers.  Hopefully, a clunker for him will be 5+ innings with 3 runs.  Should he maintain this level of pitching, would love to see the Twins extend him for another 3 or 4 years.  Lopez, Gray, Ryan, Paddack, and Ober with Varland and SWR at St. Paul would make a nice rotation going into 2024.

[chinmusic]

I think I read that Pablo Lopez was the NL pitcher of the month last April with the Marlins.

Be that as it may, all 3 of Gray, Ryan and P Lopez have done wonders in solidifying the rotation.

Here's to an equally robust May!

 

[I wish the twins were good]

Really like Sonny, you can tell he thinks about this stuff A LOT. I hope they figure out a way to keep him for a few more years. 

[I wish the twins were good]

You look at the pitching leader boards, they do have more than a few guys getting the job done. SOs? Pablo Lopez. ERA? Sonny. Wins? Joe Ryan. Refreshing for sure after all those years in the wilderness. Something a little more satisfying about a team that gets it done with pitching. 

[jkcarew]

"...but which Twins pitcher had the best month of April?"

 

The article lays out 3 or 4 solid reasons that this should be Sonny Gray.

But, I can think of about 73-and-a-half million reasons that it should be Pablo Lopez.

[laloesch]

3 hours ago, roger said:

Remain hopeful that Gray will maintain this level of pitching well into the season.  Yes, he is going to have a couple clunkers.  Hopefully, a clunker for him will be 5+ innings with 3 runs.  Should he maintain this level of pitching, would love to see the Twins extend him for another 3 or 4 years.  Lopez, Gray, Ryan, Paddack, and Ober with Varland and SWR at St. Paul would make a nice rotation going into 2024.

Yeah my thoughts exactly.  Extend this guy if he keeps this up.  For as good as Ryan has been Gray has been REALLY good so far.

[PDX Twin]

He's not going to keep this up all season, of course. I just hope he is able to pitch all season!

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

6 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

Good list - fun to have guys with these types of stats!

I wrote in TD about 7-8 days ago about how I was a new believer in Jorge López after wanting he & Pagan gone after last summer …..he had pitched 10 1/3 at that time & looked flawless to that point. I’m nervous now though. I get that guys aren’t going to be perfect nor even average all the time. However, I’ve seen his last couple appearances and they harken back to his time last year with Twins. He loaded the bases & narrowly escaped 2 outings ago - last time out he gave up a runner that Jax had walked, needing one out in 8th………..he’s just looked a little different trying to locate in recent couple appearances……he’s going to give up runs eventually I just hope he doesn’t revert to 2022 Jorge, his stuff is too good for that.

Great pitching month!

Lopez is a very good reliever.  Yes from Time to time he might get in trouble,  but unlike Pagan,  he has the stuff to get out of the problem a majority of the time.  He is steady and reliable.  He has already give us .8 WAR.   Right now I just want Duran to dial it in a bit more.  Otherwise things are going very well so far.  Still wish we would have kept Coloumbe, but Brock Stewart has been a nice addition so far.  Pagan still scares me.   Other than that,  I think we can find a cheap addition if needed to bolster the bullpen this summer if needed.  

[Twins GFP]

It is nice to be able to have a positive discussion when trying to make this choice.  Lot's of interesting questions on Sonny Gray's future best saved for a different thread, but he is definitely blowing it out of the water so far this year.  Just enjoying the ride...

Not really hearing much about Sonny Gray in the clubhouse, but I wonder what type of impact he is having on the Joe Ryan's of the world (positive or negative)?