Minnesota Twins out of MLB Cellar Due to Stellar Young Pitching

Don’t look now, but the Minnesota Twins are no longer the worst team in Major League Baseball. Coming into Wednesday, the Twins, Colorado Rockies and Chicago Cubs all have 15 wins. The Cubs have one more loss than the Rockies and Twins, so the Twins are no longer in the cellar of the MLB.

The Twins are still in the cellar of the American League Central, but the Detroit Tigers aren't running away with the division like everyone and their mother thought they would. The division is so that bad the Twins are only nine games back of the first-place 24-18 Cleveland Indians.

So you’re saying there’s a chance?

The Twins are 5-1 in their last six games, sweeping a two-game set from the Tigers, taking two of three from the Milwaukee Brewers and taking the first game against the Chicago White Sox. The Twins have looked pretty impressive in every game except for that 16-4 killing by the Brewers on Sunday, when Drew Butera was literally the best pitcher for the Twins. He even struck out former Twin Carlos Gomez, which goes to show the problems that the Twins organization has had. It’s not good when your backup, backup catcher strikes out your former starting center fielder, the one who was a critical piece in the Johan Santana trade, no less.

Why this sudden up-beat for the Twins?

Pitching. Young pitching.

Coming into the year, the Twins expected the rotation to be: Carl Pavano, Francisco Liriano, Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn and Jason Marquis. Now, Pavano is the only one left in the rotation, Liriano is in the bullpen, Baker and Blackburn are on the DL and Marquis got cut after being out-pitched by a catcher.

The rotation now has young studs Scott Diamond and P.J. Walters, both of whom have pitched well for the Twins.

Diamond has started three games for the Twins and won all three contests. He’s only given up three runs so far, resulting in a 1.40 ERA and a WHIP of 0.98. He is leading the Twins in ERA and wins in only three starts compared to Pavano’s nine.

P.J. Walters has also been pitching great after being called up from Rochester. He is 2-1 in three starts and owns a 2.95 ERA. Walters has gone at least six innings in all three of his starts, including his last start against the White Sox on Monday, where he pitched a two-run, five-hit complete game in a 9-2 Twins victory.

With the long overdue cut of Jason Marquis coming down this week, the Twins turn to another Triple-A arm for Thursday’s game. Cole DeVries, an Eden Prairie and University of Minnesota alum, will toe the rubber for the Twins. DeVries  is 1-4 in eight starts for Rochester with a 4.24 ERA, but hopes to find the success that his former Red Wing teammates have found on the big league squad.

It can’t be overlooked that this whole winning stretch came in conjunction with the return of Justin Morneau. Morneau’s first game back off the DL was the Twins' first game in Detroit—the first game in this successful stretch. Morneau has sparked the team, hitting .273 with two home runs and nine RBI since his return to the lineup.

I don’t think it’s time yet to declare the Twins a contender. A team can only contend if they win more games than they lose. Being 12 games under .500 means that it might take some time to make up that ground. But if Diamond and Walters keep pitching like they have, Brian Dozier keeps playing like a legitimate shortstop and Morneau can keep up the pace and stay healthy, then this summer may not be as much of a lost cause as once thought.