Tag: Tyler Duffey

Twins starting pitchers that never finished what they started

Do you know what pitcher has started the most games for the Minnesota Twins and hasn’t completed a single one of his starts?

Mike Pelfrey
Mike Pelfrey

The Minnesota Twins franchise leader in starts without a single complete game on his resume is Mike Pelfrey but Pelfrey does have a couple of complete games with the New York Mets. Ironically former Senators and Twins pitcher Jim Kaat holds the Washington Senators franchise record for most starts with 11 and zero complete games and he did that between 1959-1960. Oddly enough three of the ten pitchers on the list below pitched for the Twins in 2016.

Twins leaders in starts with zero complete games

Rk Player GS ? G GF W L W-L% SV IP SO ERA BF
1 Mike Pelfrey 64 64 0 11 27 .289 0 341.0 197 4.94 1513
2 Boof Bonser 60 96 9 18 25 .419 0 391.2 317 5.12 1723
3 Kevin Correia 54 54 0 14 26 .350 0 314.2 162 4.49 1364
4 Pat Mahomes 51 114 26 18 28 .391 3 366.2 217 5.82 1635
5 Willie Banks 45 52 5 16 17 .485 0 259.2 191 4.61 1163
6 Glen Perkins 44 401 225 35 25 .583 120 618.2 502 3.83 2601
7 Sam Deduno 41 63 8 16 18 .471 0 279.0 198 4.26 1216
8 Tommy Milone 40 49 5 12 11 .522 1 219.2 154 4.79 968
9 Mike Trombley 36 365 132 30 34 .469 34 645.2 528 4.53 2815
10 Tyler Duffey 36 36 0 14 13 .519 0 191.0 167 5.42 838
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/20/2016.

The MLB record holder in this category is still active and he is Bud Norris (a free agent I believe) with 185 starts and zero complete games in the books between 2009-2016 while pitching for five different teams.

The MLB leader by the way, in complete games is Cy Young with 749 and Bert Blyleven leads the Twins in complete games with 141 which comes out to 41% of his starts. 

How 2016 AL starting pitchers were acquired

Justin Verlander had a 6.6 pitching WAR, the best in baseball in 2016.
Justin Verlander had a 6.6 pitching WAR, the best in baseball in 2016.

Now that the 2016 regular season is over it is time to take a look at the American League starting staffs and see how the teams acquired their starting pitchers. In this case I am only going to look at pitchers that started 10 or more games for their teams. Several of the pitchers appear on more than one team.

This past season there were 95 pitchers in the American League that started 10 games or more games for their teams. The wild card winning Baltimore Orioles and the worst team in baseball Minnesota Twins each had eight pitchers with at least 10 starts, on the other end of the spectrum the wild card winning Toronto Blue Jays and the 69 win Oakland A’s each had only five starters with 10 or more starts.

Continue reading How 2016 AL starting pitchers were acquired

According to ELIAS

Despite high ERA, Duffey’s getting the wins

Duffey
Duffey

Tyler Duffey won his ninth game of the season and lowered his ERA to 6.11 in the Twins’ win over the Mariners on Saturday. The only Twins pitcher to finish a season with nine or more wins despite an ERA of 6.00 or higher was LaTroy Hawkins, who went 10-14 with a 6.66 ERA in 1999, his final season as a starting pitcher, before 16 seasons pitching exclusively out of the bullpen.

The MLB June amateur draft is far from a science

2016 DraftThe 2016 MLB will take place June 9, 2016 in Secacus, New Jersey and the Minnesota Twins will have the 17th selection this year. There are already numerous mock drafts being published but as normal they are all over the board, so what else is new. Here is a list (with pictures) on MLB.com of their proposed top 100 2016 prospects.

Baseball draft are so different from all the other sports in many ways but the two main differences that stand out is that baseball drafts are more international than other sports and if you get drafted in baseball you can look forward to spend a number of years in the minor leagues before you have the experience and necessary skill sets to play in the major leagues. Sure there have been some players that went directly to the major leagues but they are rare and the last player to do so I believe is RHP Mike Leake who was drafted eighth overall in 2010 by the Cincinnati Reds from Arizona State and now pitches for the Cardinals. The last Twins player to be drafted and go straight to a big league mound was LHP Eddie Bane who also was from Arizona State.

The June amateur draft is exciting for the fans but it is serious business for the MLB teams that have spent lots of time and money watching these young prospects as they try to determine who is the best player available when it comes time to make their selection. Mistakes in a draft can and do haunt teams for many years. There are many ways to mess up a draft choice, the player may not turn out to be as good as you thought, you might have bypassed a star player, you might not be able to sign the player, the player and/or his agent may state they don’t want to play for you, and of course an injury may cut his career short. If everything goes your way you have yourself a baseball player but the odds are stacked against you.

Continue reading The MLB June amateur draft is far from a science

According to ELIAS

Duffey wins his fourth straight decision

Tyler Duffey 2015Tyler Duffey pitched seven scoreless innings and was the pitcher of decision in the Twins’ 8-1 victory over the Angels. Duffey absorbed a loss to the Blue Jays in his major-league debut on August 5, when he allowed two homers and six runs in a two-inning start. But he is 4-0 with a 2.06 ERA in seven starts since then, while allowing only one home run in 43.2 innings. Source: ELIAS

Twins minor league player of the week

Tyler Duffey 2015Chattanooga (AA) pitcher Tyler Duffey is the first Twins Minor League Player of the Week in 2015. Duffey made a start for the Lookouts on April 15 versus Birmingham tossing 7 shutout innings with two hits allowed, one walk and eight strikeouts. The 24 year-old Duffey has made two starts this season, tossing 13.2 scoreless innings pitched with six hits, two walks and 18 strikeouts. The right-handed Duffey was recently ranked seventh in minor league baseball on Baseball America’s Prospect Hot Sheet, covering games of April 9-16. Tyler Blinn Duffey was the Twins fifth round pick in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of Rice University and reportedly signed for a $267,000 signing bonus. Duffey served as the Rice Owls closer in his final season in college ball.

Duffey who was born in Houston, Texas and is starting this season at Chattanooga (AA) this season pitched at three levels in the Twins minor league system in 2014 starting out in Ft. Myers (High A) where he was 3-0 with a 2.82 ERA before being moved up to New Britain (AA) where he went 8-3 with 3.81 ERA. Duffey then was moved up to Rochester (AAA) where he was 2-0 with a 3.91 ERA and a SO/9 ratio of 9.0 in three starts. That SO/9 ratio at Rochester is a bit deceiving as his career SO/9 ratio is 7.4 but so far this year his SO/9 ratio is 11.9.

Twin minor league report 04192015

Nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon

I spent Saturday afternoon at Hammond Stadium going back and forth between fields 2 and 3 where I watched the Twins Ft. Myers Miracle and Cedar Rapids Kernels take on the Orioles Frederick and Delmarva teams. I focused mainly on the Ft. Myers and Frederick game but I was also able to watch the other game because the fields are so close together.

Jose Berrios started for the Miracle and pitched 3 scoreless innings and was followed on the mound by Tyler Duffey and David Hurlbut. Duffey pitched well but Hurlbut got knocked around pretty good in his couple innings of work.  The Twins however; were up big by the time Hurlbut took the mound and the Twins ended up winning 7-3.  The starting line-up for the Miracle had Mitch Garver catching, Dalton Hicks at first, Logan Wade at second, Ryan Walker at short, Travis Harrison at third, Max Kepler in left, Zack Granite in center and Adam Walker in right. Catcher Bryan Santy hit the games only home run, a long blast well over the left field fence.

A couple of observations from the game. Right fielder Adam Walker is a big guy and he hit 27 home runs for Cedar Rapids last season but today his play in RF left something to be desired. There were several balls hit to right that he seemed to pull up on and let the ball drop in front of him for singles that could have been caught with a better jump on the ball. First baseman Dalton Hicks is listed at 6’5″ and 228 and I am not sure when they last had Hicks step on a scale because the man has to be at least 250 and a case could be made that he could have easily stretched his long single into a double had he hustled down the line a little more. Later in the game manager Doug Mientkiewicz moved Travis Harrison from 3B to left field and Joel Licon came in to play third. Harrison continues to struggle in the field (although not in this game) and the Twins are trying to find a position for Harrison because he has some pop in his bat. I think you will see more and more of Harrison playing a corner outfield spot rather than the “hot corner”.

Joel Licon being helped off the field
Joel Licon being helped off the field

I mentioned Joel Licon because an inning or so later he ended up getting beaned but fortunately the ball seemed to catch mostly helmet. Licon started heading to first base but stopped about half way there and dropped to one knee. After a couple of minutes Licon left the game but he looked dazed as he sat on the bench. Hopefully Licon will be OK and not suffer any concussion symptoms but when that ball hit his helmet the loud bang got everyone’s attention from both fields.

I took a number of pictures during the game and will try to get them posted on Monday.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Adam Walker
Adam Walker

Cedar Rapids Kernels (Single-A) outfielder Adam Walker is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. In five games, Walker, 21, batted .455 (10-for-22) with one double, one triple, four home runs and 13 RBI’s. In 2013, Walker, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin native who is playing for his first full season team is hitting .310 with 14 runs scored, six home runs and 25 RBI’s in 19 games.

After he was drafted by the Twins in the third round of the 2012 Draft from Jacksonville University, the 6’4″, 225 pound right-handed hitting outfielder shared the Appalachian League lead with 15 homers for Rookie-level Elizabethton. He hit three more in the postseason, none more important than a game-tying three-run blast in the bottom of the ninth inning of the decisive Game 3 of the Championship Series against Burlington, a contest the Twins won on Dalton Hicks‘ walk-off grand slam. Previous winners this season include right-handed pitcher Tyler Duffey in week 1 and infielder Miguel Sano in week 2.

By the way – Each of the Twins four minor league affiliates have won their last three games.

 

Aaron Hicks
Aaron Hicks

According to Elias – Aaron Hicks finally stroked his first major-league extra-base hit, a two-run double in the eighth inning of the Twins’ 7-2 home win over the Rangers yesterday. Hicks thus ended a streak of 64 straight at-bats without an XBH to start his career, the second-longest by any Twins position-player since the team relocated from Washington in 1961. Catcher Tom Tischinski didn’t record more than a single in any of his first 90 big-league at-bats in 1969 and 1970.

Starting tomorrow, the Twins will begin their longest road trip of 2013, playing 10 games in 11 days with stops in Detroit (April 29-May 1), Cleveland (May 3-5) and Boston (May 6-9). So far in 2013 the Twins are 6-6 at home and 4-4 on the road.

Max Kepler update – Star prospect Max Kepler remains on the shelf in Ft. Myers with a left elbow strain and remains shutdown for another month. Kepler, who has never suffered any serious injuries in his short career is reported to be chomping at the bit to start playing some baseball but the Twins are not going to put a young prospect like Kepler at risk of long-term injury. Having said that, there is discussion about sending Kepler to Cedar Rapids and have him DH even if he can’t play in the field.

This might be fun to watch!

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

RHP Tyler Duffey
RHP Tyler Duffey

This weeks Twins minor league player of the week is Cedar Rapids (A ball) right-handed pitcher Tyler Duffey. Duffey, 22, made one start during the week on April 7 versus Beloit earning the win. Tyler pitched 7.0 no-hit innings with seven strikeouts as Josue Montanez and Tim Atherton finished off the no-hitter for the Kernels.

Duffey is a 6’3″ and 210 lbs Houston, Texas native that was drafted by the Twins in the fifth round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft out of Rice University. Duffey was 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in 12 games, all in relief in Elizabethton last season. Duffey struck out 27 batters in 19 innings for the E-Twins. This season as a starter in Cedar Rapids, Duffey is 1-1 with a 2.13 ERA and has 11 KO’s in 12.2 innings.