If you said Kyle Gibson, you'd win the the prize. After 50 plus years of first round draft picks, the Twins have finally found a pitcher who can win at the major league level. I was looking at list of names yesterday of first round drafted pitchers by the Twins (about a dozen or so) and the ONLY one I recognized was the Arizona State standout from a long ways back, Eddie Bane.
Bane, along with all of the other names on the list FLOPPED as Twins.
It's possible the Twins have finally chosen a winner. Gibson was good yesterday. He gave up two runs in six innings while striking out 5 and walking NONE. That's solid from anyone's perspective. The Twins took advantage of the Royals starter yesterday (who was doing his best P..J. Walters impression) by scoring 5 runs in the FIRST inning.
We were outscored the rest of the way 2-1, and almost blew it in the eighth, but somehow the Twins held on to win the game for Gibson.
Other Baseball Notes:
The PIRATES became the first team to win 50 games this season. That's right, the Pittsburgh Pirates have more wins than any other team in baseball. Even fans optimistic about the Pirates this season didn't see them being THAT good.
Former Twin, Michael Cuddyer, extended his hitting streak to 26 games yesterday. Cuddyer is second in the N.L. batting race, hitting .346 for the season.
Has anyone been following Chris Davis from the Orioles? He has THIRTY homeruns so far for Baltimore. He's on a pace for 59 this season. I realize those are not Barry Bonds or Mark McQwire numbers, but this guy is showing that it IS possible to hit a boatload of homeruns without being accused of banned substance abuse.
Of course Ryan Braun was hitting a boatload of home runs without suspicion a couple years back for the Brewers as well.
Davis is 27 years old and had seasons of 33 and 30 home runs the last two years.
Who is the best player in baseball? One of the more interesting new-age baseball stats (sabermetrics) is called WAR (Wins above Replacement). It tries to measure a player's total contribution to his team by figuring in everything they do (baserunning, fielding, batting and pitching) and then it shows the number of wins this player has given their team based on those overall contributions, compared to a replacement level player at that position.
Now, as you will see from the stat chart below, the league MVPs are on the list, so the stat actually has some real-world validity. But notice THE player with the MOST value. I'm thinking my readers will recognize him.
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