My Twins all-time starting five

July 14, 2010 – I thought that it might be interesting for me to pick my all-time Twins starting 5 pitchers. It turned out to be more difficult than what I had imagined it would be. What do you rank them on? How important is durability versus intimidation for example. Were they the ace of the pitching staff that carried the team to the playoffs? The list would be different if I included pitchers that pitched for both the Senators and the Twins such as Camilo Pascual who had a stellar career and is one of my all time favorite pitchers. The first row of stats are stats with the Twins and the second row are career stats. The Twins stats for Jim Kaat do include a few games that Kaat pitched for the Senators in 1959 and 1960 and the numbers for Johan Santana include the first half of 2010.

1. Rik Aalbert (Bert) Blyleven – right handed

Seasons GS/CG Innings Wins SO ERA WHIP
11 345/141 2,566 149 2.035 3.28 1.19
22 685/242 4,970 287 3,701 3.31 1.20

 2. James Lee (Kitty) Kaat – left handed

Jim Kaat - Twins pitcher from 1961 - 1973
Season GS/CG Innings Wins SO ERA WHIP
15 433/133 3,014 190 1,851 3.34 1.23
25 625/180 4,530 283 3,701 3.31 1.20

3. James Evan Perry – right handed (1970 Cy Young award winner)

Seasons GS/CG Innings Wins SO ERA WHIP
10 249/61 1,883 128 1,025 3.15 1.20
17 447/109 3,285 215 1,576 3.45 1.26

 4. Frank John (Sweet Music) Viola – left handed (1988 Cy Young award winner)

Seasons GS/CG Innings Wins SO ERA WHIP
8 259/54 1,772 112 1,214 3.86 1.30
15 420/74 2,836 176 1,844 3.73 1.30

 5. Johan Alexander Santana – left handed (2004 & 2006 Cy Young award winner) still active

Seasons GS/CG Innings Wins SO ERA WHIP
8 175/6 1,308 93 1,381 3.22 1.09
11 253/10 1,836 129 1,816 3.11 1.12