26-year old lefty starting pitcher Brian Duensing came into this season as the #16 prospect in the Minnesota Twins’ system according to Baseball America and he’s showing why now. Duensing has pitched in 20 games (6 starts) for the Twins this season and he is 3-1 with a 3.53 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. Duensing has bumped Francisco Liriano from the starting rotation and it will be interesting to see if he can keep the job.

24-year old lefty starting pitcher Francisco Liriano has been great since his return to the major leagues. Getting rid of Livan Hernandez and bringing up Liriano is looking like a stroke of genius by the Twins’ front office. Liriano has started 3 games in August for the Twins and he is 3-0 with a 1.45 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP. His recent surge has made his season numbers not so awful as he has now started 6 games for the Twins this season and he is 3-3 with a 4.97 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP. There’s no reason to think that Liriano won’t pitch well the remainder of the season and help the Twins try to beat out the White Sox for the division.

The starting pitching of the Twins is the real reason that they are tied for first place with the White Sox right now and rookie Nick Blackburn has been a big part of that success. The 25-year old righty was the Twins’ #1 prospect coming into this season according to Baseball America and he’s showing why. Blackburn has started 24 games for the Twins this season and he is 9-6 with a 3.73 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. He has only walked 24 batters in 144.2 innings this season buying into the Twins’ philosophy of throwing strikes and that’s a good thing because he has allowed 164 hits this year. Watching Blackburn pitch he really reminds me of a young Brad Radke and that’s a good thing.

Scott Baker has been really solid this season as he has emerged as the best pitcher in the starting rotation for the surprising Twins this season. He is 6-2 with a 3.47 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP so far this season and he would be even better if he weren’t injured earlier this season. The Twins are sitting at 53-42 on the season which has them only 1.5 games behind the White Sox in the American League Central. The Twins are also only 2.5 games behind the Rays for the American League Wild Card. The Twins will need Baker to have a good second half if they are going to secure a playoff spot.

Jesse Crain missed a lot of last season due to having to undergo a major surgery. He looks like he’s all the way back however as he’s been pitching really good this year. Crain has pitched in 34 games (0 starts) for the Twins this season and he is 3-2 with a 2.80 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP. He needs to tighten up his control a bit as he has walked 14 batters in only 35.1 innings for the Twins this season. But, that’s nitpicking as Crain has really looked good this year.