Top Five Starting Pitchers in Twins History

Continuing the series, in prior posts I’ve done the Mets, Rockies, Rays, White Sox, Cubs, Astros, Athletics, Braves, Mariners, Giants, Orioles, Pirates, Royals, Blue Jays, Marlins, Angels and Padres. You can find them all on this Substack.

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You may know that the Twins began as the Washington Senators/Nationals (no relation to today’s Nats) and were an original American League team founded in 1901. They played 60 seasons in the nation’s capital before moving to Minneapolis-St. Paul in 1961 where they are currently playing their 66th season. Stories about the haplessness of the Washington franchise (first in war, first in peace, last in the American League) was a collar Senator fans wore since only one time (1924) did they win a World Series title before moving to Minnesota. That 1924 team was especially wonderful because of HOFer Walter “Big Train” Johnson. But there were other excellent Nationals pitchers on that championship team and the two titles (1987 and 1991) the franchise won while playing in Minneapolis also featured some terrific pitchers.

For my top five starters in Twins history the only criteria are that the starting pitcher pitched five or more seasons for the team.

Honorable Mention:

Tom Zachary — his performance in the 1924 World Series is what resonates most, even more than 100 years later. The tall lefty pitched nine seasons in D.C. and pitched through the best of times 1924–1927 when the team had a winning record each season. His 1924 WS was the highlight of his Nationals career.

Camilo Pascual — Fifth in team history with 145 wins, Pascual was also fifth in bWAR (33.2) amongst Twins starters as well as fifth with 331 Games Started. He was a seven time All-Star and pitched 13 seasons for Washington and Minnesota splitting his time between the two cities. It could be argued he’s a top five Twins starter.

Frank Viola — Sweet Music it was indeed. Eight years in Minnesota highlighted by his 1988 Cy Young award, Viola had seven straight years with 34 starts or more. The 6’ 4” lefty from Hempstead, Long Island won 112 games for the Twins, and is seventh with 27.0 bWAR, and was the 1987 World Series MVP.

Jim Perry — HOFer Gaylord’s older brother was a great pitcher himself. 10 years as a Twin with 128 wins to his credit with the team. He’s in the top ten in many pitching categories including games started, (eight with 249) and bWAR (tied with Firpo Marberry with 26.3).

Dutch Leonard — was a three-time All-Star with the Senators and won 118 games (seventh in team history), over his nine Senator seasons for mostly moribund teams. He’s tied for fourth with 23 shutouts and seventh with 1,899.1 Innings Pitched.

My top five starting pitchers in Twins history

#5 — Brad Radke — The slim right-hander spent his entire 12-year MLB career in Minnesota. Under-appreciated outside of the Twin Cities, Radke made only one All-Star team despite posting 5.2 bWAR or more four times amassing a 45.6 bWAR which averages almost 4 bWAR per season. Radke’s fourth with 1,467 strikeouts and aside from his 21 starts in 2001, he started 28 or more times in each of his 11 other seasons with the team. He did not have much postseason success but was the pitching staff anchor for five playoff teams.

#4 HOFer Jim Kaat — Pitching 15 seasons for the franchise including two in Washington prior to the move to Minnesota, the tall lefty won 190 games for the franchise good enough for second in team history. He’s also second in Innings Pitched (3014.1) and Games Started 433. He won a memorable game two in the 1965 World Series opposing HOFer Sandy Koufax then later losing to Koufax who pitched a complete game 2–0 shutout in game seven. Sandy did stuff like that all the time.

#3 Johan Santana — Doesn’t it feel like Santana should be a HOFer? While the narrative always seemed to include talking about Santana’s injuries, he made 175 starts in his eight seasons with the Twins totaling 35.8 bWAR which is extremely good. Santana is sixth with 1,381 strikeouts and is tied for the highest won-lost percentage (.679 with HOFer Stan Coveleski who pitched only three seasons with the Senators) in club history.

#2 HOFer Bert Blyleven — Owner of one of the best curveballs in starting pitcher history, Blyleven pitched 11 seasons in Minnesota only reaching the playoffs in 1970 in his first tour with the team. He returned in 1986 to play a big role starting 37 games the next season for the 1987 World Champions. The numbers tell a good story. 49.1 bWAR, 2,035 strikeouts (second), third in Innings Pitched (2,556.2), complete games (141), wins (149), and shutouts (29), he’s fourth in Games Started (345). Strangely he was only a two-time All-Star and never won a Cy Young award.

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#1 HOFer Walter Johnson — I already noted that the “Big Train” was a HOFer but it’s not overdoing it to mention him twice as possibly the greatest pitcher of the first half of 20th century and maybe the entire century. Johnson is first in too many team categories to list them all. bWAR (155.4), Wins (417), Games Played (802), Games Started (666), Strikeouts (3,509), ERA (2.17), Innings Pitched (5,914.1). Like Mariano Rivera does it to relief pitchers, Walter Johnson ruins career stat comparison for most pitchers.

The current Twins staff is led by Joe Ryan who is in his sixth season with the team. Ryan has shown to be durable and consistently good and at 30 years old could move up the all-time list if the team keeps him around. Odds are they won’t.

About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com.