Twins Daily 2023 Awards: Best Pitcher

Nope. Ober was better than Ryan. Even after Ryan came back from the injury.

I think I would put Ober over Ryan. I don’t go for the “but he was injured “ stuff. You take the ball then you get the results. I understand why Sonny is first on the list but if we had game seven I would pick Pablo. 

6 hours ago, Karbo said:

It will be interesting to see how free agency goes for Sonny. He's a class act and deserves to get paid! Will the Twins pony up what it takes to keep him? I hope so, but at least we should have Paddock to slide in if not. On paper, it looks like another strong rotation next year.

Most likely not.  The twins have an incentive not to resign with #1 draft pick coming back if he signs for more than 50-60 million (not sure what that threshold is).  I feel like the margin of error on Gray is razor thin.   This will likely end up being his best year, right up there with 2019 and 2015.  The issue with Gray will be increasing age and inconsistency with performance over his career.  I can be thrilled with the trade and how it turned out.  With all that being said I would be happy if they did resign him.  I just don't see it happening.   

As to this,  Gray was the best performer for the Twins,  but Pablo and Duran are the best pitchers on the team.   I would give the award to Gray.  Heck of a season, and is a master at patience and knowing if you don't give a hitter a grooved pitch that he has an advantage, that sooner or later the hitters will miss or have weak contact.  He is willing to go deeper in counts, walk or have hitters get on base.  However he vary rarely gives up the home run and very rarely gives up the crooked number.  

Overall this seems about right.  It's close between Gray and Lopez for #1, and a razor thin margin between Ryan and Ober for #4.  I lean towards Ober, but it's close, and probably believe Ryan to have the greater long-term potential.

This is the deepest and likely the strongest Twins pitching staff since the 1960s, even if we may grumble a bit about perceived deficiencies in the bullpen.  Enjoy it while we have it!

Ober/Ryan are a toss up and it will be interesting to see who pitches game one against Houston.  Also, if Brock Stewart had not been injured, I suspect he would have been close to making this list.  

Sonny is a really good pitcher love to have him on the team. If I had thing I don't like is how many pitches he needs to get through 5 innings, and therefore 5+ innings he is done. Rest is up to the bullpen, sometimes good sometimes awful. Reminds me of Jake Odorizzi in 2019 never able to go 7. 

1 hour ago, Karbo said:

It will be interesting to see how free agency goes for Sonny. He's a class act and deserves to get paid! Will the Twins pony up what it takes to keep him? I hope so, but at least we should have Paddock to slide in if not. On paper, it looks like another strong rotation next year.

Just hope there isn't TJ #3. Not a lot of pitchers with track record of 2 TJs. Fingers crossed but need a rotation 6 or 7 deep like this year.

Sonny Gray was phenomenal at limiting HR this season. That's everything in 2023 baseball.

2 hours ago, jccracraft said:

Nope. Ober was better than Ryan. Even after Ryan came back from the injury.

Ober was better than Duran, too. I think people continue to underestimate how much more difficult it is to be a starting pitcher and get outs for 5-6 innings than it is to be a reliever and get outs for 1 inning.

The closeness of voting highlights why this team is where they are today. Multiple contributors instead of a standalone superstar. Love to see it.

Sweepers were the most trendy pitch across baseball in 2023

Seems like that was the case; I keep reading lots of references to sweepers this year. That said, I have to ask: how long has this so-called "sweeper" pitch been around? I think the first time I ever even heard of it was last year. Who was the first pitcher to popularize this pitch? I'm honestly stumped and want to learn more about it, so any background will be appreciated. 

1 hour ago, Doctor Wu said:

Sweepers were the most trendy pitch across baseball in 2023

Seems like that was the case; I keep reading lots of references to sweepers this year. That said, I have to ask: how long has this so-called "sweeper" pitch been around? I think the first time I ever even heard of it was last year. Who was the first pitcher to popularize this pitch? I'm honestly stumped and want to learn more about it, so any background will be appreciated. 

I'd say the "sweeper" has been around for 60 years. It's just a slider that is more horizontal than diagonal.