Is Brian Duensing really this good?

Many Twins fans have been wondering about a certain Twins rookie named Brian Duensing. They want to know who is this guy, and where did he come from?

Brian Duensing, age 26, was the Twins 3rd round pick in 2005. Duensing had pitched at the University of Nebraska before being drafted by the Twins. He actually moved through the minors very rapidly. Duensing was in AAA Rochester by 2007, but the Twins plethora of young starting pitching forced the lower-regarded Duensing to remain at AAA until 2009. His numbers in the minors were very solid; he had a 3.62 ERA in 106 games and a WHIP of 1.29. However, in 2008, his AAA numbers were worse than his AAA numbers of 2007, and this year they were worse than they were in 2008. This caused Duensing to drop off on people's prospect lists and he largely became an afterthought. (Duensing did pitch for Team USA in Beijing and helped the team win a bronze medal.)

Duensing started this season as a lefty reliever for the Twins. His numbers in the bullpen were not pretty; in 30 innings he had a 5.34 ERA, 16 walks, and opponents hit.275 off of him. He was sent down to AAA where his numbers didn't stand out.

When the Twins pitching started to fall apart, Duensing was called up again, and he eventually took Francisco Liriano's place in the rotation. And you all know the rest of the story. He has been lights out, becoming maybe their most reliable starter. Until his last game versus Detroit, he hadn't given up more than three runs in a game. In 53 innings as a starter for the Twins, he has a 2.73 ERA, 5 wins, and 33 strikeouts.

I don't know if Duensing is really this good. I'm not even sure the Twins will place him in the starting rotation next season. He might get traded while his stock is so high. Or maybe he is this good. My guess is he is actually good enough to be a #4-5 starting pitcher, but he's not going to be an ace, and he is pitching better than he really is. I'm guessing over the course of a season he has something more like an ERA of 4.50.

But, one thing that has struck me about Duensing is a comment Gardenhire made. Gardy said that in the minors, pitchers have to throw a certain number of different pitches each game, to make sure they have more than a fastball to throw. But in the majors, you just need to get outs, and you can throw whatever you need to, to get those outs. Interesting...