Tag: Brad Radke

Analyzing Starting Pitcher Trends: From Aces to Relievers

Walter Johnson

I have followed MLB since about 1956 by buying baseball cards, by listening to baseball games on the radio, by subscribing to The Sporting News and reading whatever box scores I could find. But how things have changed over the years, including pitching. One of the biggest changes has to do with starting pitching.

Starting pitchers used to pitch and hit back in the day. They would start every fourth day but over time the starting rotation changed to four to five. Recently some teams have gone to six day rotations and it is not that uncommon nowadays for games to be pitched totally by relief pitchers. Relief pitchers back then were “injured” starters or starters that for one reason or another had become ineffective.

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Top 20 pitching seasons by a Twins pitcher

Bert Blyleven

The Minnesota Twins have played baseball for 62 seasons and they have had 273 different pitchers start one or more games for them. The number drops to 26 pitchers having started 100 or more games, just six having started 200 or more, three at 300 or more and only Jim Kaat started over 400 or 422 to be exact.

Pitching has not exactly been the Twins strength over the years, the team has been known for producing hitters. But the Twins have had a number of very good pitchers with Bert Blyleven and Jim Kaat in the MLB Hall of Fame. The Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame includes pitchers Blyleven, Kaat, Frank Viola, Rick Aguilera, Brad Radke, Jim Perry, Camilo Pascual, Eddie Guardado, Johan Santana and Joe Nathan. Three of the inductee’s were relievers.

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A look at Twins Quality Starts over the years

According to WikipediA, in baseball a quality start is a statistic for a starting pitcher defined as a game in which the pitcher completes at least six innings and permits no more than three earned runs. The quality start has effectively replaced the ‘complete game’ as a meaningful measure of a starting pitcher’s performance.

The quality start was developed by sportswriter John Lowe in 1985 while writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Nolan Ryan has used the term “High Quality Start” for games where the pitcher goes seven innings or more and allows three earned runs or fewer, which baseball columnist and formber BBWAA president Derrick Goold referred to as “Quality Start Plus.”

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Minnesota Twins pitching leaders in games started

Back on December 19 in 2006 pitcher Brad Radke announced his plans to retire after 12 season of wearing the colors of the Minnesota Twins. That got me to wondering where the Twins pitchers with the most starts for Minnesota came from.

  1. Jim Kaat had 422 starts with the Twins and was signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent in 1957 long before the draft was instituted and was one of the original Minnesota Twins in 1961. Debuted August 2, 1959 with the Senators.
  2. Brad Radke had 377 starts with the Twins and was an eighth round pick in the June amateur draft in 1991. Radke debuted on April 29, 1995 in three not so stellar innings of relief and started every game that he appeared in after that.
  3. Bert Blyleven had 345 starts with the Twins after being drafted by Minnesota in round three of the 1969 June amateur draft. Bert debuted on June 5, 1970 and all his appearances but three were starts.
  4. Frank Viola had 259 and just one relief appearance with the Twins after being selected in round 16 of June 1978 amateur draft. Sweet Music debuted on June 6, 1982.
  5. Jim Perry had 249 start for Minnesota after being acquired in a trade on May 2, 1963 from the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Jack Kralick.
  6. Dave Goltz had 215 starts for the Twins after drafted in the round five of the 1967 June amateur draft. The Rothsay, Minnesota native debuted on July 18, 1972.
  7. Kyle Gibson had 188 starts with Minnesota after being drafted 22nd in round one of the 2009 June amateur draft. Gibson debuted on June 29, 2013.
  8. Kevin Tapani had 180 starts in 181 appearances in a Twins uniform after being acquired in a trade from the New York Mets in the Frank Viola trade on July 31, 1989. Tapani had debuted with the Mets on July 4, 1989.
  9. Camilo Pascual had 179 starts with Minnesota and was signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent prior to the 1952 season long before the draft was instituted and was one of the original Minnesota Twins in 1961. Pascual debuted on April 15, 1954.
  10. Johan Santana had 175 starts with the Twins after being drafted by the Florida Marlins from the Houston Astros in the 1999 rule 5 draft and then being traded to the Twins for Jared Camp who the Twins had originally drafted in the Rule 5 draft that year. Santana debuted on April 3, 2000.

The other players with 150 or more starts for Minnesota are Eric Milton with 165, Scott Baker with 159, Scott Erickson with 153, Kyle Lohse with 152 and Dave Boswell with 150.

The only pitchers mentioned here today to make a start for the Minnesota Twins at Target Field are Kyle Gibson and Scott Baker.

The only pitcher on this list to spend his entire career in Minnesota? That would be Brad Radke.

Twins to welcome back fans to Target Field in 2021

The last time that Twins fans were able to watch their home-town team play ball in-person at Target Field was back on October 7, 2019. That was the day their beloved Bomba Squad was sent packing from the American League playoffs when they were swept by the New York Yankees three games to zip in the ALDS. Their starting pitcher that day was Jake Odorizzi. Sergio Romo and Trevor May pitched in relief and the only run they scored in the 5-1 loss was a home run hit by right-fielder Eddie Rosario. When Twins fans sadly filed out of Target Field that day little did they know that they would not be able to watch another game in person at Target Field for another 548 days. It will not be until April 8, 2021 when the Twins host the Seattle Mariners in their Home Opener that Twins fans will again be able to cheer on their Twins. All the players named above will be playing for other teams.

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Twins pitching leaders in complete games by decade

A complete game in baseball is about as rare nowadays as finding a pay phone at your local corner service station. The complete game has gone by the wayside and this year with what is going on in baseball with the COVID-19 situation it will be even more of a rare occurrence.

The top ten MLB pitchers in complete games from 1961 to 2019 are all in the Hall of Fame. The leader is Gaylord Perry with 303 complete games and tenth on the list is Jim Palmer with 211. The Twins Bert Blyleven is number six on that list with 242 complete games.

If you only look at the American League from 1961 through 2019 the leader is Bert Blyleven with 222. Bert is also the all-time Twins leader in complete games with 141 followed by Jim Kaat with 133. So now you know why Bert always brags on TV about pitching complete games.

If we look at Twins complete game leaders by decade you get a list that looks like this:

Best seasons by Twins position players & pitchers

As the Twins prepare for their 59th season of play in Minnesota we should look back and be thankful for some great seasons these players have given us in the past. I am using B-R Play Index to come up with the ten greatest seasons by Minnesota Twins players over the years and I am once again using WAR as the tool to do this. I think you might be surprised at some of these.

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According to ELIAS – Jose Berrios

Berrios setting records after a late debut

 

Jose Berrios

Jose Berrios improved to 6–1 this season, allowing two runs in eight innings in Minnesota’s 6–2 win over Seattle yesterday. Berrios is only the second Twins pitcher since 1980 to win at least six of his first seven appearances in one season. The other was Brad Radke in 2001. Berrios, who didn’t make his season debut until May 13, is the first pitcher in franchise history to win six games this early in the calendar year after not pitching in the majors in April. (That includes the Washington Senators from 1901 through 1960.)

According to ELIAS – Jose Berrios

Berrios pitches deep into another victory

Jose Berrios

Jose Berrios allowed two hits over 7.2 innings to earn his second win is as many starts this season as the Twins defeated the Rockies, 2–0, to gain a split of their doubleheader yesterday. Berrios, who allowed only one run in 7.2 innings in his season debut against the Indians last weekend, is only the third Twins pitcher in the last 30 seasons to pitch into the eighth inning and win each of his first two appearances of a season. The others were Brad Radke (2001) and Andrew Albers (2013).

Minnesota Twins who have received Hall of Fame votes over the years

We all know about the Minnesota Twins players who have been enshrined in the MLB Hall of Fame and it is a great and rare honor to get voted in. Over the years a number of outstanding and I think “hall worthy” Minnesota Twins players have received votes but never enough to get that call they have waited for, I would put players like Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat and Jack Morris in that category.

Oliva

Kaat

Morris

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a list of other one-time Twins players who received at least one vote in HOF balloting through 2017 voting, some deserved it and others I have to wonder what the voter was thinking.

 Jacque Jones, Kenny Rogers, Brad Radke, Bret Boone, Jesse Orosco, Chuck Knoblauch, Gary Gaetti, Rick Aguilera, Chili Davis, Terry Steinbach, Jim Eisenreich, Luis Tiant, Frank Viola, Steve Bedrosian, Jim Deshaies, Jeff Reardon, Kent Hrbek, John Candelaria, Rick Dempsey, Graig Nettles, Don Baylor, Chris Speier, Joe Niekro, Bill Campbell, Jerry Koosman, Mike Marshall, Leo Cardenas, Jim Perry, Ron Perranoski, Vic Wertz, Camilo Pascual, Vic Power, Elmer Valo, and Billy Martin.