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  • Twins Daily Pitcher of the Month - May 2023

    Matthew Taylor

    By Matthew Taylor

    While the month of May wasn’t the prettiest for the Minnesota Twins, there were a handful of pitchers that stepped up and put themselves in the running to be named the Pitcher of the Month. Come find out who took the title.

    Image courtesy of Thieres Rabelo, Twins Daily

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    The Minnesota Twins built on a strong April of pitching and put together another strong month on the mound, finishing fourth in all of baseball in pitching ERA in May. The Twins got strong performances from a handful of starting pitchers as well as a certain reliever who can apparently throw 105 MPH now.

    Let’s dive into the Pitcher of the Month honorable mentions and find out who ultimately was named Twins Daily’s Pitcher of the Month.

    Honorable Mention 3: Jhoan Duran 10 2/3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 15 K, 3 BB
    Jhoan Duran continues to be an absolute godsend for the Minnesota Twins’ bullpen. In a month when the Twins ranked 23rd in all of baseball in win probability added and faced saw meltdown after meltdown, Duran posted one of the best months of his young career with 10 2/3 shut out innings and gave the Twins someone they could consistently trust at the back end of the bullpen.

    Duran led all Twins pitchers in WPA in the month of May and raised his K% from where it was in the month of April. Oh yeah, and he threw a 105 MPH pitch.

    Honorable Mention 2: Louie Varland 35 IP, 3.34 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 31 K, 7 BB
    In his first full month in the starting rotation for the Minnesota Twins this season, Louie Varland showed everyone that he is here to stay. Mixing high velocity with tremendous control, Varland is making a case to be the first big-time success story from the Derek Falvey pitching pipeline.

    In the month of May, Varland led Twins pitchers with 35 innings pitched and a team low BB% of 4.9%.

    Varland started six games in the month of May, with four of them coming in wins. No start was bigger, though, than the one that came on Wednesday night, the final day of the month, when he threw seven shutout innings on the road against the Houston Astros, allowing just four hits while striking out five. Not bad from your “number five” starter.

    Honorable Mention 1: Bailey Ober 29 IP, 3.10 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 27 K, 6 BB
    The continuously underrated Bailey Ober quietly put together the second best month from any Twins pitcher in May. Ober started five games, with three of them being quality starts and only one of them allowing more than three earned runs. Ober never allowed more than six hits in any of his starts this month and started producing more strikeouts than we are used to seeing from the right-hander.

    Ober started out the year in the Minors, but since joining the Twins at the end of April, Ober has a 2.68 ERA with a 37/11 K/BB ratio. Safe to say that Ober will be contributing to the Twins’ starting rotation for a long time.

    Pitcher of the Month: Joe Ryan 33 IP, 2.73 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 40 K, 9 BB
    After a stellar month of April in which he posted a 2.81 ERA across 32 innings, Joe Ryan improved upon those numbers in the month of May with a 2.73 ERA in 33 innings. Joe Ryan finished second amongst Twins pitchers in innings pitched and led all pitchers in strikeouts and wins above replacement. The young right hander also continued to show elite pitch control as the team-leader with a K/BB ratio of 5.85 on the season.

    Ryan’s best pitching performance last month came on May 2 against the Chicago White Sox when he pitched six shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out seven. Unfortunately the performance came in a loss, but Ryan did all he could do to lead the Twins over their division rivals that night.

    In six starts in the month of May, Joe Ryan produced four quality starts and only allowed more than two earned runs in one of those starts.

    After another stellar month from the prized right hander, Joe Ryan is more than deserving of being Twins Daily’s Pitcher of the Month in May, and as long as Joe Ryan continues to make improvements every month, he’ll continue to find himself in the Cy Young conversation.

    Do you agree with our choice for Pitcher of the Month? Do you think Joe Ryan has a chance at winning the Cy Young Award? Leave a comment below and start the conversation!

    Matthew Taylor has been a writer with Twins Daily since 2020. If you can't find him at Target Field you'll most likely find him at the movie theater.
    Follow Matthew Taylor on Twitter: MatthewTaylorMN

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    Geno48

    Geno48 1

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    • Posted

    Thankfully Jorge Lopez is out of the conversation.    Despite ok numbers, IMHO he has been poor since he got here!

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    JD-TWINS

    JD-TWINS 1,551

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    • Posted

    1 hour ago, Geno48 said:

    Thankfully Jorge Lopez is out of the conversation.    Despite ok numbers, IMHO he has been poor since he got here!

    Pretty big deal having four guys with these numbers on a staff! Gray wasn’t bad he just wasn’t excellent - as these other 4 certainly were.

    Jorge with Pablo not far behind, were at the other end of the Spectrum.

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    roger

    roger 4,079

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    • Posted

    One of your comments caught my attention.  On the mound he is pitching like someone who should be here to stay.  But, will he?  

    Maeda began his rehab as a starter going what was it, 3+ innings?  Expect they will stretch him out to 5+ by the time his 20 days (is it 30 for pitchers?) are up.  When his rehab is up he will return to the Twins.  Every indication is that will be as a starter. 

    Don't see them going to a six man rotation, do you?  Although another injury could solve this dilemma, I expect Varland will return to St. Paul without a corresponding injury opening a spot for him to stay.  The good news is that when another injury occurs, the Twins have a pitcher ready who will pitch as well, or better, than the man going down.

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    arby58

    arby58 630

  • Gold Caretaker

    • Posted

    This starting staff is really solid, and it's great to know that at least 4 of the 5 will be back next year. The Twins need maybe one more shut down arm in the bullpen. They've been competitive with the best teams so far this year. Now, with Lewis and Kirilloff back, they sort of remind me of the Phillies last year - if they get hot, watch out.

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    jmlease1

    jmlease1 7,846

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    hard to pick between Ryan, Ober, and Varland. I think Ryan is the right choice, but I wouldn't squawk too much about any of the others.

    oddly, one of my favorite performances by Ryan was his last one which was also easily his worst of the whole season. he just didn't have it, and you could see it early, but he still battled his way through 4 innings and tried to grind it out. I dunno, there's just something about him when he's on the mound.

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    jimbo92107

    jimbo92107 7,763

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    • Posted

    Ryan's delivery is so easy, operating within his body. He appears to be a center of calm surrounded by the chaos of the game. To me some comps would be Jim Palmer, Orel Hershiser, guys like that. On the Twins, I'd comp him with Ervin Santana or Keven Tapani. Easy motion, excellent command.

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    Dale Powers

    Dale Powers 7

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    3 hours ago, Geno48 said:

    Thankfully Jorge Lopez is out of the conversation.    Despite ok numbers, IMHO he has been poor since he got here!

    It's typical for athletes in all sports to press after signing a new contract. Correa is batting like me, for instance. Give it time - Lopez will come around. 

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    Blyleven2011

    Blyleven2011 1,929

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    • Posted

    2 hours ago, roger said:

    One of your comments caught my attention.  On the mound he is pitching like someone who should be here to stay.  But, will he?  

    Maeda began his rehab as a starter going what was it, 3+ innings?  Expect they will stretch him out to 5+ by the time his 20 days (is it 30 for pitchers?) are up.  When his rehab is up he will return to the Twins.  Every indication is that will be as a starter. 

    Don't see them going to a six man rotation, do you?  Although another injury could solve this dilemma, I expect Varland will return to St. Paul without a corresponding injury opening a spot for him to stay.  The good news is that when another injury occurs, the Twins have a pitcher ready who will pitch as well, or better, than the man going down.

    Either go to a six man rotation with maeda or put maeda in long relief  and then wait for an injury and go back to 5 man rotation  ...

    Varland right now is to valuable to waste in AAA  ...

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    roger

    roger 4,079

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    1 hour ago, Blyleven2011 said:

    Either go to a six man rotation with maeda or put maeda in long relief  and then wait for an injury and go back to 5 man rotation  ...

    Varland right now is to valuable to waste in AAA  ...

    100% agree with what your are saying Blyleven2011.  But the question is, do you really expect them to do either?  Expect most of us here at TD would do one or the other.  But I seriously doubt the Twins would make either decision.

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    Blyleven2011

    Blyleven2011 1,929

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    • Posted

    1 hour ago, roger said:

    100% agree with what your are saying Blyleven2011.  But the question is, do you really expect them to do either?  Expect most of us here at TD would do one or the other.  But I seriously doubt the Twins would make either decision.

    No , i wouldn't think they would do it,  it would make to much sense ...

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    arby58

    arby58 630

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    • Posted

    21 hours ago, jimbo92107 said:

    Ryan's delivery is so easy, operating within his body. He appears to be a center of calm surrounded by the chaos of the game. To me some comps would be Jim Palmer, Orel Hershiser, guys like that. On the Twins, I'd comp him with Ervin Santana or Keven Tapani. Easy motion, excellent command.

    Brad Radke had that as well.

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