Twins rotation developing into one that can be appreciated

Byron Buxton makes Target Field look tiny.

When he runs, the outfield suddenly seems small as a bocce ball court. When he drives a ball toward the upper deck in left field, he makes this large, cantilevered structure look like it's made out of a child's Legos.

He might be the best player in baseball — or, as his manager put it, "in the world" — and his two home runs Sunday vaulted the Twins into first place in the AL Central.

Buxton's feats wouldn't matter much in the standings, though, if the Twins hadn't turned an empty pitching cupboard into what is currently the most effective rotation in the AL.

Sunday, before Buxton's upper-deck blast in the 10th gave the Twins a 6-4 victory over the White Sox, Twins' fifth starter Chris Archer pitched only three innings, giving up two runs, in part so the Twins could keep developing future starter Josh Winder.

Only a couple of weeks ago, it would have been fair to describe the Twins rotation as an odd experiment. They ended the 2021 season with maybe two starting pitchers they wouldn't mind running to the mound in 2022. Both were rookies, and one had pitched 26 ⅔ innings in the big leagues.

Their leaders in innings pitched in 2021 were Jose Berrios (traded), Michael Pineda (lost in free agency), Kenta Maeda (Tommy John surgery, may not return this year), J.A. Happ (traded), Bailey Ober (rookie), and Griffin Jax (struggling rookie).

The Twins somehow improved their staff without spending much money or trade capital. Entering Sunday, they had the lowest ERA in the AL for starting pitchers (2.73), walks and hits per inning pitched (0.98), the second-lowest batting average and OPS allowed (.206 and .617).

They traded for Sonny Gray to be their expected ace, and he has pitched only 6⅓ innings because of a hamstring injury.

To get these results from Gray, Joe Ryan, Ober, Dylan Bundy, Archer and Chris Paddack, the Twins' still-newish brain trust had to do what they were hired to do in the first place — identify, acquire, develop and instruct pitchers.

"I think it's got to be a combination and a group effort to bring in some familiar faces, some young starters from elsewhere, and some veteran starters from elsewhere," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "It's a really interesting, talented group of guys that can do a lot of different types of things.

"For this to come together and work the way it has to this point, and hopefully for the foreseeable future, you need to bring in the right people. You need to have the right people working with them. You have to have the right plan for each pitcher, because each of these guys has a very different way of going out there and executing a plan."

What has been most notable is this staff's pitching intelligence. You can see them calculating how to retire each hitter with a curated pitch sequence.

Ryan has made eight big-league starts and he's already an ace. Bundy started his career as a hard thrower and now has added a splitter and a feel for making hitters uncomfortable.

The Twins traded for Gray, Ryan and Paddack, signed Bundy and Archer as affordable free agents, and drafted Ober in the 12th round in 2017.

Credit baseball boss Derek Falvey and his analysts for identifying underappreciated talent; the field staff, including pitching coach Wes Johnson, for fitting each pitcher with a unique plan, and the pitchers for applying their acquired knowledge.

Archer has pitched for the Rays, Pirates and Twins. "We have some really, really good arms," he said. "Wes is a good pitching coach. Our whole pitching department is really strong. I've been on teams that weren't as analytical. I've been on teams that are super, super analytical, and these are the best scouting reports I've seen, and they break down the hitters really well."

Wednesday night, the Twins were 4-8. Since then, they have won four straight and moved into first, thanks to Buxton's star turns and the rotation's subtle excellence.