Luke Thompson

His K rate is much better now for some reason it didn't have everything updated

Last year the Minnesota Twins made a much-needed trade to acquire All-Star closer Jorge Lopez. He was having an excellent year when the Twins acquired him for two pitching prospects, Cade Povich and Yennier Cano. Lopez had a 1.68 ERA with 48.1 IP which led him to the All-Star game. The Twin's bullpen was not great, so they decided to make a trade to bring him in to bolster the pen. Lopez’s first two months as a Twin were not great. He had a 4.37 ERA across 23 innings pitched and his walk rate was not good. It is also important to note that Lopez was dealing with some personal stuff as his family suffered greatly after a natural disaster left his hometown destroyed. That could have affected his performance; his head was not in the right place. But it was overall very disappointing to see what we got out of him compared to what we thought we were getting. Coming off of a disappointing second half in 2022, Lopez looked to rediscover his first-half success. During spring training, Lopez looked much better; he pitched 5.0 innings, and in those innings, his ERA was 0.00. Lopez didn't give up a run and struck out 6. I know that spring training success doesn't always translate into the regular season, but after he struggled last year, it was encouraging to see him pitch well and look good. Coming into the 2023 regular season, Lopez has looked nothing but excellent. His numbers look great and he has pitched in 5 games, tallying 4.2 IP. Lopez has an ERA of 0.00 with 5K's, and he is 1-0 with a save. In the 2022 season, he seemed to lose command and location and would give up hard contact after being ahead in the count. In 2023 Lopez appears to have begun to return to his early 2022 self. He is dotting the zone, staying calm, and getting hitters to swing and miss. * Jorge Lopez 2023 MLB Percentile Rankings Lopez also lost his closer role, but it's for the best, as last year when he was with the Twins, he seemed to struggle in high-leverage situations. Lopez has only appeared in the 9th inning or later two times this year and gave up his only hit and run so far. In comparison, Lopez has looked much better when he comes into pitch in the 7th/8th inning. Most of the damage was done in the 10th inning against the Astros with the extra innings runner on 2nd rule. The presence of Johan Duran will be a massive help for him to help relieve the pressure of those big moments. * Jorge Lopez Per-Inning Splits I know that we are only nine games into the season, and that is a small sample size for Lopez, but so far it looks like he is going back to his Baltimore form from the first half of 2022. I hope Lopez can keep up this success for this whole season and keep being an excellent option for Rocco to bring out of the bullpen to get some outs.

I agree with your opinion Mr. Neisen, I am also drinking the Twins Kool-Aid. I look forward to hitting up some Twins wins this season with you.

When the Minnesota Twins signed Korean slugger Byung-Ho Park, fans believed he was the next "big thing" and that he was the player they needed to compete. But what happened to Byung-Ho Park? Park was a huge superstar in the Korean Baseball Organization with the Nexen Heroes. In five seasons with the Heroes, Park led the KBO in home runs five times, RBIs four times, slugging percentage twice, a 2X MVP of the KBO, and was a five-time Gold Glove winner. In the KBO, Park had two consecutive seasons with 50 home runs (2014–2015) and was the home run title winner for four consecutive seasons (2012–2015). He holds the KBO record for RBI during a single season, with 146 RBI in 2015. With those numbers, the Twins gave the highly wanted Park a four-year, $12 million contract. With those numbers in the KBO, you would think It would be a steal of a contract; the only problem is that Park wasn't a very good MLB player. The move for the Twins made sense as he dominated pitching in the highest league in South Korea, and many teams were after him. It was exciting when the Twins won the bidding war for Park because things like that usually don't happen to Minnesota. It was initially very exciting to see what he could do in America, but ultimately it was another disappointing move. When Park arrived with the Twins, he only played 62 games, hitting .191/.275/.409 with 12 homers before he was sent to Triple-A Rochester. The only real hope Park had at the time of his demotion was his 12 homers, which had him on pace for 31 homers if he had played the whole season. After spending an entire season with the Rochester Red Wings, Park asked to be released and returned to the Heroes for the 2017 season. He performed well in Park's first year back in the KBO League. Park batted .345 with an OPS of 1.174 with 43 HR in 113 games. Currently, Park is on the KT Wiz in the KBO. He is slashing .275/.349/.556 with 35 HRs. He has only been incredible since he went back to the KBO. This leads me to wonder what went wrong for Park in the majors and why he did not perform up to expectations. In 2016, Park's only season in the MLB, he had a strikeout rate of 32.8%. He struck out in nearly one-third of his plate appearances. Whereas in 2016, the league average strikeout rate was 21.1%, Park's strikeout rate was over 10% more than the average. The following reason for his struggles: Park's batting average in 2016 was .191. This was well below the league average of .255. On-base percentage, Park's on-base percentage (OBP) in 2016 was .275, which was also below the league average of .321. Park struggled to hit the breaking pitches. In 2016, he had a batting average of just .111 against curveballs and a batting average of .125 against sliders. Park also had difficulty staying on the field, suffering a knee contusion and a wrist injury that ended his season. Park also had issues with the front office and how they handled his injury. Park believed little treatment was given to him during his injuries which slowed down getting him back on the field. I wish the Twins would have kept Park on their roster, it's very possible that his performance would have improved in the Major Leagues, he just needed to be given more playing time and consistent at-bats. However, it's a possibility that he would have continued to struggle and been demoted or released. In 2016, Byung Ho Park's rookie season with the Twins, he played in 62 games and had 244 plate appearances. He hit .191 with 12 home runs, 24 RBI, and a .658 OPS. In comparison, the Twins' starting DH in 2016, Robbie Grossman, played in 99 games and had 380 plate appearances. He hit .280 with 11 home runs, 37 RBI, and a .386 OBP. If Park had been given consistent playing time and more at-bats, it's a real possibility he could have improved his numbers and been a good player for the Twins. However, it's also possible that he simply wasn't built for the MLB and would have continued to struggle. I wonder what would've happened if Park would have had more time to adjust to MLB pitching and his injuries didn't keep him off the field. We know he had the potential but sadly couldn't piece it together. Byung-Ho Park's career would have been an interesting one for sure. Sadly, Twins fans will have to live with the disappointment of Park not panning out quite as we hoped.

It's an honor to be on this list.

Sergio Romo for sure deserves to be on here.

I think Sonny Gray is the correct choice, great article very interesting read.

I agree with the fact that if Mauer got hurt after 8 years he would not be the player he was. But I have to put him on here just due to the fact that he didn't and he had the longer career. But Oliva easily could've been on here.

I agree It's a good think as a Twins fan that this list was hard to make. There are so many players deserving but I think those guys deserved it the most.

I agree, I think Blyleven and Santana could be on this list but the other guys were just sooo good.

Deciding the "Mount Rushmore" of any sports franchise can be hard to do. Most franchises have many great players who are deserving. Here are the four who make up my Minnesota Twins Mount Rushmore. Harmon Killebrew Killebrew played for the Twins from 1954-1974. He was a 13-time All-Star, won the American League MVP award in 1969, and finished his career with 573 home runs. He currently sits at 12th in all-time home runs. With the Twins, Killebrew hit .256/.376/.509 with 559 home runs, 1559 RBI, and 1843 walks. He also won six American League home run titles and led the MLB in RBI three times. Killebrew finished his baseball career with the Kansas City Royals in 1975. When his career wrapped up, Killebrew finished 1st in Twins RBI, WAR+ and home runs. Killebrew was inducted as a member into the Hall of Fame in 1984. When Killebrew retired, he was one of the most feared hitters ever and one of the greatest sluggers in baseball history. All of these accolades earn Killebrew a spot on the Twins Mount Rushmore. Kirby Puckett Kirby Puckett, in addition to being a fan favorite was a great player. Puckett batted .318 in his career, which is the highest in Twins history. Puckett won the AL batting title in 1989 with a .339 average, and he finished in the top ten in batting average eight times in his career. Puckett had 2,304 hits in his career, which is the second-most in Twins history. Puckett was a 10-time All-Star, which is tied for the most ever in Twins history. Puckett was a key part of the Twins' two World Series championship teams in 1987 and 1991. In the 1991 World Series, he hit .429 with two home runs and six RBI in the series. His most famous moment as a Twin was his walk-off homer in game 6 in 1991. Puckett won many awards during his career. These included six Gold Gloves, the 1989 AL batting title, and the 1991 AL Comeback Player of the Year award. Unfortunately Puckett's career was cut short due to retina damage in his right eye following the 1995 season. Puckett was named to the MLB Hall of Fame in 2001. Overall Puckett's combination of hitting, defense, and postseason success make him one of the greatest players in Twins history and earns him a spot on the Twins Mount Rushmore. Rod Carew Rod Carew was one of the best Minnesota Twins players of all time because of his performance both at the plate and in the field. During his 12-year career with the Twins (1967-1978), Carew hit for a .334 batting average, which is the highest in Twins history. He took home the American League batting title in seven of those 12 seasons with the Twins, including four consecutive titles from 1972 to 1975. In 1977, he hit .388, the highest batting average by any American League player since 1941. Carew was an All-Star in all 12 seasons with the Twins. Carew was the AL MVP in 1977. Carew was also a really good fielder. He won a Gold Glove in each of his last five seasons with the Twins. Carew was named to the MLB Hall of Fame in 1991. Rod Carew's greatness as a hitter, combined with his exceptional fielding ability, makes him one of the greatest players in Minnesota Twins history and puts him on Mount Rushmore. Joe Mauer Joe Mauer wraps up this list. In his time with the Twins, Mauer played 15 seasons with the Twins (2004-2018). In that time he hit over .300 in nine seasons and finished his career with a .306 batting average. Mauer's defense was incredible, he was a Gold Glove-winning catcher 3 times during his career and was widely regarded as one of the best defensive catchers in the game during his prime. Mauer won multiple awards throughout his career, including the American League MVP award in 2009. He also won three Gold Gloves, five Silver Slugger awards, and was selected to six All-Star teams. Mauer's stats were excellent; he had 2,123 hits, 143 home runs, 923 RBI, and 1,018 runs scored. He also drew 939 walks and struck out only 877 times in 7,708 plate appearances. Mauer's career on-base percentage was .388, which is among the highest in Twins franchise history. Overall, Joe Mauer was a fantastic player who excelled on both sides of the field. His awards and stats all contribute to his legacy as one of the best players in Twin's history and earn him a spot on the Twins Mount Rushmore. With players such as Johan Santana, Tony Oliva, Bert Blyleven and Torii Hunter being left off this list there is plenty of room for debate on who deserves to be on the Twins Mount Rushmore.

Lucky for us the Royals and Tigers are in our division so we know we can get good starts out of him in those games. I agree he has to keep improving on pitching better in games against playoff teams

I agree, without Ryan last year the Twins would of been a much worse team then they were

At the time it was but I'm explaining how it worked out for us. With Cruz having eye problems and aging it worked well for us to get a young player to help us for the future. I agree with your comment on Ryan I hope he can continue to improve and be a key player for the Twins.

I loved Cruz I think he can still contribute at the MLB level. I just believe that he is not gonna be the 30 HR player he was with us. I think soon the age will became a bigger factor and the injuries will start to come.