The Twins enjoyed strong pitching in 2023, but what about ’24?
The good news first: Four pitchers for the Minnesota Twins landed on my list of baseball’s top 100 players in 2023. The best of the lot, Sonny Gray, ranked 13th overall.
But there’s bad news, too: Gray has already departed the Twin Cities for St. Louis as a free agent, and another member of Minnesota’s outstanding quartet, Emilio Pagan, has signed with the Cincinnati Reds.
The Twins are left with fond memories of the past season, where they earned the highest score in the team standings for pitchers in the top 100.
I unveiled my scoring system for batters on Tuesday, and it works the same way for pitchers. The player in 100th place in the overall standings received one point, with a point being added for each rung up the ladder. That means, of course, that first place was worth 100 points.
I added the points earned by pitchers on each club, and then ranked them. The Twins were first with 164 points, followed by another pair of American League clubs, the Detroit Tigers at 160 and the Seattle Mariners at 130.
If a player divided his time among two clubs — as four did — their points were split the same way. And Shohei Ohtani’s points were allocated according to his statistical impact, bringing 78 points as a batter for his former employer, the Los Angeles Angels, and 22 as a pitcher.
You can take another look at my rankings of 2023’s 100 best players by following these links to the 10 installments: 91-100, 81-90, 71-80, 61-70, 51-60, 41-50, 31-40, 21-30, 11-20, and 1-10.
Complete team standings for pitchers in the top 100 can be found below, with points (not ranks) in parentheses.
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Team standings for pitchers in top 100
1. Twins (164) — Sonny Gray (88), Pablo Lopez (43), Emilio Pagan (18), Bailey Ober (15)
2. Tigers (160) — Tyler Holton (65), Tarik Skubal (61), Eduardo Rodriguez (34)
3. Mariners (130) — George Kirby (74), Luis Castillo (33), Logan Gilbert (23)
4. Brewers (118) — Corbin Burnes (84), Hoby Milner (21), Devin Williams (10), Brandon Woodruff (3)
5. Yankees (111) — Gerrit Cole (94), Michael King (17)
6. Orioles (109) — Kyle Bradish (87), Felix Bautista (22)
7. Dodgers (98) — Clayton Kershaw (48), Brusdar Graterol (31), Evan Phillips (19)
8. Diamondbacks (89) — Zac Gallen (79), Merrill Kelly (6), Kevin Ginkel (4)
8. Rays (89) — Zach Eflin (80), Shawn Armstrong (5), Aaron Civale (4)
10. Giants (86) — Logan Webb (86)
11. Cubs (84) — Justin Steele (64), Marcus Stroman (20)
12. Phillies (81) — Zack Wheeler (81)
13. Mets (76) — Kodai Senga (49), Justin Verlander (27)
14. Padres (69) — Blake Snell (69)
15. Astros (59) — Framber Valdez (46), Justin Verlander (13)
16. Braves (57) — Spencer Strider (57)
17. Marlins (53) — Tanner Scott (53)
18. Guardians (23) — Tanner Bibee (16), Aaron Civale (7)
19. Angels (22) — Shohei Ohtani (22)
20. Rangers (19) — Cole Ragans (14), Jordan Montgomery (5)
21. Royals (14) — Cole Ragans (14)
22. Cardinals (9) — Jordan Montgomery (9)
23. Athletics (0)
23. Blue Jays (0)
23. Nationals (0)
23. Pirates (0)
23. Red Sox (0)
23. Reds (0)
23. Rockies (0)
23. White Sox (0)
