Sunday, March 9th

A guy that not alot of people talk about with the hope that Francise comes back to form and Livian Hernandez can get some people out has been the emergence of Scott Baker to Ace status. I will admit myself i was starting to lose faith in him with his insistance to throw the high pitch. Just because it works in the minor leagues doesnt mean it is going to work up here cause the hitters are much better. But he finally listened to the coaches and last year put up a very solid year and i believe he is the most solid pitcher we have right now and deserves to start on opening day. It wasnt always good for him though he came up as a heralded prospect but bounced up and down from Rochester to the Twins and vice versa because seemed like he would dominate in Rochester and come up here and get drilled. Like i said something clicked for him last year and he had a very solid year and he's only 26 years old and has a bright future with the Twins. but as the can see it wasnt always easy for him look at the stats he put up.
2004 high A 4-2 2.42
AA 5-3 2.43
AAA1-3 4.97
2005 AAA5-8 3.01
twins3-3 3.35
2006 AAA5-4 2.67
twins5-8 6.37
2007 AAA 3-2 3.16
twins9-9 4.26

As you can see he has dominated the hitters in the minor leagues but wasnt able to put it together until last year where he had a solid year. But knowing him he can do so much better i expect a much better year this year i think he has a shot to win 15 games this year with a ERA in the 3's he reminds me so much of a young Brad Radke with better stuff. I think with all the adversity Scott has been through he will be a better pitcher for it and him and Francise will lead the twins back to the central division titles much like Radke and Santana did.