21st Century Twins pitching starts

Kyle Gibson in 2018 (credit Patrick Gorski)

The 21st century started on 1/1/2001 so the first quarter century has passed at the end of 2025. So lets take a look at what Minnesota Twins starters have started the most games for the Twins in that time period. I’m not going to look at their wins or losses, just how many times they have been able to take the bump to start the game. I will also try identify which pitchers were drafted by the Twins and which were not.

It turns out the leader of the pack is Kyle Gibson who pitched for the Twins between 2013-2019 and had a record of 67-68 with 845 strikeouts in 1,087 innings with a 4.33 ERA. A Twins 1st round pick (22nd overall) in 2009 and debuted on 6/29/2013.

D means he was drafted by the Twins and the number after it indicated the round. Trade means he was acquired in a trade, FA means signs as a free agent, Rule 5 means the Twins drafted him in a Rule 5 draft, and amateur FA means Twins signed him as an amateur free agent.

Keep in mind that some pitchers career’s started in the previous century so their number may look a bit strange.

RkPlayerFromToCountInd. Games Link
1 (D-1)Kyle Gibson20132019188Games List
2 (D-8)Brad Radke20012006180Games List
3 (Trade)Johan Santana20012007170Games List
4 (D-2)Scott Baker20052011159Games List
5 (Trade)Kyle Lohse20012006152Games List
6 (D-29)Nick Blackburn20082012137Games List
7 (D-1)José Berríos20162021135Games List
8 (Trade)Francisco Liriano20052012130Games List
9 (Trade)Carlos Silva20042007124Games List
10 (D-12)Bailey Ober20212025115Games List
11 (Trade)Joe Ryan20212025114Games List
12 (Trade)Joe Mays2001200598Games List
13 (D-2)Kevin Slowey2007201190Games List
14 (Trade)Carl Pavano2009201288Games List
15 (Trade)Ervin Santana2015201885Games List
16 (Trade)Phil Hughes2014201879Games List
17 (Trade)Pablo López2023202578Games List
18 (Trade)Eric Milton2001200366Games List
19 (Trade)Jake Odorizzi2018202066Games List
20 (Trade)Rick Reed2001200365Games List
21 (Trade)Mike Pelfrey2013201564Games List
22 (D-3)Brian Duensing2009201261Games List
23 (Trade)Boof Bonser2006200860Games List
24 (Rule 5)Scott Diamond2011201358Games List
25 (FA)Ricky Nolasco2014201656Games List
26 (Trade)Sonny Gray2022202356Games List
27 (FA)Kevin Correia2013201454Games List
28 (FA)Michael Pineda2019202152Games List
29 (Trade)Kenta Maeda2020202352Games List
30 (Trade)Simeon Woods Richardson2022202551Games List
31 (D-1)Glen Perkins2008201044Games List
32 (Trade)Chris Paddack2022202543Games List
33 (FA)Sam Deduno2012201441Games List
34 (Trade)Tommy Milone2014201640Games List
35 (D-5)Tyler Duffey2015201837Games List
36 (D-2)Anthony Swarzak2009201432Games List
37 (FA)Kenny Rogers2003200331Games List
38 (FA)Martín Pérez2019201929Games List
39 (FA)Dylan Bundy2022202229Games List
40 (amateur FA)Liam Hendriks2011201328Games List
41 (Trade)Trevor May2014201826Games List
42 (Trade)Adalberto Mejía2017201825Games List
43 (Trade)Héctor Santiago2016201725Games List
44 (FA)Chris Archer2022202225Games List
45 (D-8)Zebby Matthews2024202525Games List

Provided by Stathead: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
Generated 7/25/2026.

Recent Minnesota Twins news events

The first thing we do need to do is to congratulate catcher Mitch Garver and DH Nelson Cruz on being named 2019 American League Silver Slugger winners. Garver and Cruz are the first Minnesota Twins teammates to win Silver Sluggers since Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in 2008.

The last previous winner of a Silver Slugger award was outfielder Josh Willingham in 2012. Kirby Puckett and Joe Mauer have each won the award five times. Garver and Cruz are the seventh and eighth Minnesota Twins players to be awarded Silver Slugger. 

The Silver Slugger Award is awarded annually to the best offensive player at each position in both the American League and the National League, as determined by the coaches and managers of Major League Baseball. The award was started in 1980. A complete list of Twins award winners can be seen here.

Did you know?

Martin Perez

That Martin Pérez struck out four in his outing against the Yankees (game No. 99 of the season), and with his first one to Gary Sánchez in the second inning, he joined all four Twins starters with 90 strikeouts, making the 2019 Twins’ starting rotation the first five-man rotation in Twins history to record 90-plus strikeouts apiece through less than 100 games of any Minnesota Twins season ever. Credit to MN Twins GameNotes

Fireworks night at Target Field last night

 

The Twins beat the Texas Rangers last night by a score of 15-6 at Target Field. Martín Pérez (8-3) was the starter and winner, allowing four runs on seven hits in 6 innings pitched. The offense recorded 20 hits as each starter in the lineup recorded one hit and at least eight starters had multiple hits.

  • 13 extra-base hits tied a Twins single-game record set earlier this season in game two
    of a doubleheader on April 20 at Baltimore.
  • 20 hits marked a season-high, their most since June 13, 2017 vs. Seattle when they
    set a club-record with 28, it marked the 57th time in club history for the Twins to reach
    20 hits in a game.
  • Nine doubles tied for the most in Senators/Twins history (since 1901), tying the Senators’ nine back on June 9, 1934 (box score) at Boston and Hall of Fame pitcher Left Grove.

Credit to Twins GameNotes

Twins Win!

What will it take to get Minnesota Twins fans to believe in this team

Before the 2019 season began for the Minnesota Twins pretty much everyone agreed that the Twins fate this season hinged on how well Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano performed. Both were coming off a 2018 season in which they underperformed and/or were injured or both. 

Buxton played in just 28 games hitting .156 for Minnesota and finished the 2018 season in AAA and didn’t even get called up in September, he was miffed to say the least. Sano didn’t do much better appearing in just 71 games and hit .199 with 13 home runs, a career low for him. He played so poorly he was sent all the way back to High A ball in Fort Myers to lose weight and regain his batting form.

The Twins signed free agent Martin Perez on January 30th and expected him to fight for a starting spot. Twins fans were not happy with the signing since the soon to be 28-year old lefty was 2-7 with a 6.22 ERA in 15 starts for the Rangers in 2018. Twins fans wanted the front office to sign a legitimate Ace starting pitcher and some bullpen help and when that did not happen, fans were upset and just didn’t buy tickets for the 2019 season.

According to ELIAS

Milone doesn’t need strikeouts to win

Tommy Milone  2016Tommy Milone defeated the Tigers last night in the Motor City giving him wins in each of his last three starts, and he hasn’t struck out as many as five batters in any of those games. Three other pitchers have won three straight starts without a 5-K game this season: Martin Perez (a four-game streak), Jeff Locke (a pair of three-game streaks) and J.A. Happ.