The Minnesota Twins have a great history of All-Stars, but who put together the best half season to represent the Twins in the midsummer classic?
The Minnesota Twins All-Star experience came and went with only one player being selected for the All-Star game. Only one player being selected from a struggling team isn’t anything to be shocked about. It usually isn’t even anything to write about. As has been discussed at length now, while Jose Berrios was very deserving it was simply strange that Eddie Rosario was left at home watching.
Berrios is putting together a very good season as he has started 20 games for the Twins this season and holds a 3.68 ERA and 9.0 K/9 over 127.1 innings pitched. He also is tied for the major league lead with two complete games and one shutout. In most seasons there would be no question that he should be the Twins representative at the All-Star game.
Only issue is that this season has us experiencing the hurricane that has been Eddie Rosario. He has taken the league by storm with the energy to match that of Berrios. Rosario finished the unofficial first half batting .311/.353/.537 with 19 home runs and 24 doubles. He also finished with a 3.9 fWAR placing him in the top-10 among American League position players and fourth among outfielders.
That got me wondering which Twins All-Star participants put together the best resume to be an All-Star. Instead of looking at the best seasons by a Twins All-Star we will only be looking at some of the best first halves in Twins history from players who were All-Stars. Since really All-Stars are either judged based on their first half performances or merit from previous seasons.
No. 5 Johan Santana-2005
Johan Santana is one of the most beloved Twins pitchers and players of the last couple decades. Santana was a savior to the Twins rotation when it most desperately needed one. In a time when most of baseball was starting to make the shift to employing strikeout pitchers and the Twins were still employing “pitch to contact” strategies. Santana brought the firepower fans wanted and the team needed.
In 2005, Santana made his first of four All-Star appearances. In that first half, Santana’s record didn’t look too great at 7-5 but that certainly didn’t accurately tell his story. In 18 starts, he tossed 124.1 innings while recording a 3.98 ERA and 143 strikeouts for a 10.4 K/9 rate. Santana also had thrown two complete games, one of which was a shutout.
In the actual game, Santana came in to relieve Bartolo Colon and pitch the 4th inning. Santana would hold off the National League squad but did allow a double to Derek Lee and a walk to Jim Edmonds to start the inning. A ground ball double play from Aramis Ramirez and another ground out off the bat of Mike Piazza would help Santana to put a zero up on the scoreboard.
Santana would go on to finish 2005 as one of the best pitchers in the majors that year. He finished leading the league in strikeouts with 265 and the league’s best K/9 rate at 10.5. He would fall short of the Cy Young award by finishing third in the voting for the award for the leagues best pitcher after winning it the previous season.