During a 2019 appearance at the State Fair, Derek Falvey, Twins president of baseball operations, explained how difficult it is to develop quality starting pitching.
"How many starting pitchers in the minors debut in the majors as a starter?" he asked an intrepid interviewer. When the interviewer appeared to be stumped, Falvey said, "Fifty percent."
Jhoan Duran is an example of the realities of pitching development. Once looking like a future front-line starter, he now has to settle with becoming one of the best closers in Twins history. If you have a quibble with the notion of Duran eventually out-performing Twins closing greats Rick Aguilera and Joe Nathan, then we can settle for Duran being one of the game's most feared relievers. You don't want to face a guy whose fastball has topped out at 104 mph this season and throws a unique pitch called the "splinker."
