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Minnesota Twins 2017 Season Review: Starting Pitchers

By Benjamin Chase

PORT CHARLOTTE, FL - MARCH 11: The Minnesota Twins warm up before the start of a Grapefruit League spring training game against the Tampa Bay Rays at the Charlotte Sports Complex on March 11, 2013 in Port Charlotte, Florida. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images)
PORT CHARLOTTE, FL - MARCH 11: The Minnesota Twins warm up before the start of a Grapefruit League spring training game against the Tampa Bay Rays at the Charlotte Sports Complex on March 11, 2013 in Port Charlotte, Florida. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images) /
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PORT CHARLOTTE, FL – MARCH 11: The Minnesota Twins warm up before the start of a Grapefruit League spring training game against the Tampa Bay Rays at the Charlotte Sports Complex on March 11, 2013 in Port Charlotte, Florida. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images)
PORT CHARLOTTE, FL – MARCH 11: The Minnesota Twins warm up before the start of a Grapefruit League spring training game against the Tampa Bay Rays at the Charlotte Sports Complex on March 11, 2013 in Port Charlotte, Florida. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images) /

With the season completed, it’s time to look back on the 2017 Minnesota Twins season. Let’s take a look at the team, position-by-position, moving today to the guys who started on the mound.

The Minnesota Twins have completed their season, and it’s now time to take a look back at what was an exciting ride for Twins fans!

Puckett’s Pond staff are reviewing the 2017 Minnesota Twins season. We started with the season by month, and you can find April, May, June, July, August, or September by clicking on those months.

We’ve now moved on to our positional review series on the 2017 series. So far we’ve looked at catchers, infielders, and outfielders. Today, we’ll take a look at the guys who took the ball to open the game on the hill:

“Ace”: Ervin Santana

At age 34, Ervin Santana had arguably his best season. By Baseball Reference’s WAR, only 2008 was a better season for Big Erv, according to Fangraphs WAR, he was much worse, with 2017 rating as only his 4th best season. By Baseball Prospectus’ WARP, 2017 was Santana’s 2nd best season. When it comes to pitching valuation, I tend to trust Baseball Prospectus and their DRA method.

No matter how you measure it, Santana had an elite season, one that likely will earn him some Cy Young down-ballot votes. Santana went 16-8 over 33 starts, with 211 1/3 innings thrown, posting a 3.28 ERA and 1.13 WHIP, tallying a 61/167 BB/K, leading the league with 5 complete games and 3 shutouts.

Santana started the season on fire, with a 0.77 ERA in 5 April starts and 2.57 ERA in 6 May starts. He fell back some in June and July, but he finished strong, with a 2.95 ERA in 6 August starts and a 3.31 ERA over 6 starts in September.

The reason Fangraphs’ system rates Santana poorly is due to his home run rate. Santana did allow 31 home runs in 2017, though one thing that he did seemingly well this season, from the eye test, was keeping home runs only to when the bases were empty. The stats actually bear this out, as 20 of his 31 home runs came with the bases empty.

Santana has one more season on his contract with the Twins that is guaranteed at $13.5M. After that, the Twins have a $14M option on Santana with a $1M buyout.

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