Minnesota Twins Pitchers of the Month - May 2025

[Matthew Taylor]

Image courtesy of Thieres Rabelo

The Minnesota Twins continued their dominant run on the mound through the month of May, establishing themselves as one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. As a team, they finished the month with a 3.11 ERA, good for fourth-best in the majors. They led the league in pitching fWAR, with 6.1—more than a full win ahead of second-place Philadelphia (4.8). The rotation ranked ninth in ERA (3.25), while the bullpen was even better, checking in fourth with a 2.90 ERA.

Several pitchers contributed to the team's excellent month, but four stood out above the rest.

#4: Bailey Ober
6 G, 2.76 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 29 1/3 IP, 33 H, 7 BB, 25 K
Ober made six starts in May, and while the surface stats might not immediately leap off the page, his steady consistency helped the Twins win four of those games. A rain-suspended outing against Cleveland skewed his innings total a bit, but Ober still didn't allow more than three earned runs in any appearance all month. Since his rough season debut, he's quietly continued his run as one of the more reliable arms in this rotation and in the American League, chewing innings and keeping his team in games every time out.

#3: Jhoan Duran
15 G, 0.60 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 15 IP, 12 H, 5 BB, 20 K
Duran was lights-out for most of the month, allowing just one earned run in 15 innings. That lone blemish came in a blown save against Cleveland, though the Twins ultimately walked it off to salvage the win, and give Duran credit for the W. He also earned seven saves in May, more than triple his April total. Even with one ghost-runner-induced loss in extra innings, Duran remained dominant and reaffirmed his role as the bullpen's undisputed anchor. The league recognized him with the AL Relief Pitcher of the Month Award, which has to count for something. Duran's the first Twin to win those honors since Joe Nathan in 2009.

#2: Chris Paddack
5 G, 2.40 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 30 IP, 23 H, 5 BB, 18 K
Paddack turned heads in May, bouncing back from early-season struggles with one of the strongest months of his career. He threw at least five innings in four of his five starts and gave up two runs or fewer in all but one. He was especially electric in back-to-back outings, tossing 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball against San Francisco, followed by seven shutout innings against Baltimore. After a long road back from injury, Paddack is finally showing the potential that made the Twins hang onto him this offseason.

#1: Joe Ryan – Twins Daily Pitcher of the Month
5 G, 1.86 ERA, 0.72 WHIP, 29 IP, 16 H, 5 BB, 33 K
Ryan was nearly untouchable in May, dominating hitters with elite command and his usual dominant stuff. He posted quality starts in four of his five outings and never allowed more than five hits in any of them. His signature performance came in a rivalry win over Milwaukee, when he spun six shutout innings with just two hits allowed. Ryan is not only the staff ace right now, he’s pitching like a legitimate Cy Young contender.

There’s no reason to believe the Twins’ pitching will slow down any time soon. If the bats can turn the corner, this team could be in for a special summer.

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Who was your pick for Pitcher of the Month? Do you agree with the order above? Let us know in the comments below!

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[LambchoP]

It's a bummer about Pablo going down. Hopefully his IL stay is minimal. With both Zebby and either Festa or SWR, we may be seeing some short starts, which will be very taxing on our pen. I really think we need to call up a long reliever who can go 2-3 innings to cover for 3-5 inning starts from some of our younger SP. Funderburk isn't contributing anyways. Same could almost be said for Alcala. Try Adams or someone like Morris or Prelipp in the pen.

[Jeff K]

22 hours ago, LambchoP said:

It's a bummer about Pablo going down. Hopefully his IL stay is minimal. With both Zebby and either Festa or SWR, we may be seeing some short starts, which will be very taxing on our pen. I really think we need to call up a long reliever who can go 2-3 innings to cover for 3-5 inning starts from some of our younger SP. Funderburk isn't contributing anyways. Same could almost be said for Alcala. Try Adams or someone like Morris or Prelipp in the pen.

I think we bring up Adams for either Funderburk or Alcala.  Long reliever is needed more than ever with the two youngsters in the rotation.

[Brandon]

I agree with the Ryan pick at the top.  Our pitching has been so good it would be hard to do a full roster of least valuable pitchers for the team.  
 

looking at Alcala he is like a Jekle and Hyde pitcher.  He has 5 appearances where he pitched 3 innings giving up 14 earned runs and 15 appearances pitching 19.2 innings giving up 2 earned runs.  That’s 2 extremes.