Rookie Duran catches fire in Twins' bullpen 

CHICAGO -- When Jhoan Duran reported to Fort Myers, Fla., for Spring Training, he expected to be a starting pitcher in 2022. Instead, he was informed for the first time that he’d be moving to the bullpen.

It’s been a disappointing season for a Minnesota team with championship aspirations, of which Tuesday night’s 8-3 loss to the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field was the latest installment.

But 2022 also featured one of the most striking developments for the coming years of the franchise, as Duran not only transitioned seamlessly to a relief role, but also had a season unlike any these Twins have ever seen, to the point where his manager struggled to find any comparisons among rookie relievers he’s seen.

“I can't think of anything off the top of my head that's even close,” skipper Rocco Baldelli said.

That’s because there might not be anything close, because when looking at the raw stuff, the Twins have never seen anybody remotely like the 24-year-old Duran.

At a certain point, all those around Duran in Minnesota’s clubhouse seemingly ran out of words to describe his arm -- and the person who seemed least impressed by Duran’s stuff, frankly, seemed to be Duran himself.

In just one season, Duran has thrown 224 of the 227 hardest pitches ever tracked by a Twins hurler -- and you have to go all the way down to 104th place to find somebody who isn’t Duran. Before he came along, the record for hardest pitch by a Twin stood at 101.4 mph, by Brusdar Graterol in 2019. Duran has since extended that record all the way up to 103.8 mph, and, for good measure, has also thrown the only offspeed pitch ever tracked in the triple digits.

“We knew we had a big guy with a good arm and a pretty good head on his shoulders,” Baldelli said. “His ability to pitch and his ability to spin the breaking ball and command his pitches, and the presence and all those things, I had no concept of that, of what was to come.”

It’s one thing to wield all that fire; it’s quite another thing to harness it effectively. And Duran does that with the best.

Duran’s 1.86 ERA is the lowest in Twins history among rookie relievers (minimum 65 innings), and the 10th-best mark among all such rookie relievers around MLB since the turn of the century. In fact, only two other Twins rookies have pitched as much out of the bullpen with even a sub-3.00 ERA. His 0.98 WHIP is also the best in club history for a rookie reliever.

And let’s stop bundling Duran with only the rookies for a moment to note that, with 89 strikeouts and 16 walks in 67 2/3 innings, his 5.56 strikeout-to-walk ratio is third-best among all reliever seasons in club history -- behind only Taylor Rogers (2019) and Joe Nathan (2006). And Duran’s 11.8 strikeouts per nine innings also ranks third among all seasons by Twins relievers -- trailing only a pair of Nathan campaigns.

That’s great company in Duran’s ability to actually command his electric stuff.

“I’m proud and happy because there are a lot of pitchers who throw hard, but they don't control or command their pitches. And that's something that I take pride in,” Duran said.

To put it all together, Duran has been consistent, durable and healthy throughout the year, an unexpected but needed beacon of stability and dominance in a bullpen that was otherwise no small part of the Twins’ struggles due to the inconsistency of Emilio Pagán, Tyler Duffey and Joe Smith, all of whom were expected to comprise Minnesota’s high-leverage bullpen corps at the start of the season.

At first, the Twins protected Duran as he acclimated to relief, but after a while, they simply had to save him for the most important situations in games -- ninth inning or otherwise. He stayed healthy the whole year after throwing only 16 innings in ‘21 due to elbow issues, set to finish second among Minnesota relievers in innings pitched this season.

There’s a good argument to be made that Duran was the most important pitcher on the Twins’ staff this year -- and he’s hoping to get even better.

“I still have a lot of things to learn,” Duran said. “It's my first year, but I think this offseason, I'm going to concentrate on going in depth with all my pitches.”

The league should be on notice.