Jhoan Duran DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

Minnesota Twins closer Jhoan Duran pitched a clean ninth inning in Sunday's 5-1 win over the Detroit Tigers. Although his 1.42 ERA in 6 1/3 innings pitched so far in the season is encouraging, it's unfortunate that he still has zero save opportunities through 16 games. The Twins are now sitting at 5-11, so hopefully, they can turn it around and provide Duran with some more opportunities soon. All that aside, Duran has looked effective in his seven appearances, with an opponent batting average of .136 to go with the low ERA. Although the strikeout numbers are down, it's too early to sound the alarm. More importantly, the Twins need to give him some more consistent opportunities. Next for the Twins is a three-game home series against the New York Mets.

Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Jhoan Duran tallied his 17th save of the campaign on Thursday evening as he tossed a clean ninth inning. He struck out the first two batters he faced and earned the third out via a ground out. Duran has earned two saves this month with a strong 1.80 ERA and a 0.80 WHIP. Overall, the 26-year-old holds a 3.43 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and a 12:41 BB:K ratio through 39 innings of work. However, he sports an excellent 2.82 xERA, which suggests he should continue to lower his ratios during the second half. In addition, he excels at generating ground balls at an impressive 59.4% rate which also shows he could continue to succeed. Duran remains one of the better relief options in fantasy and should continue to see a majority of the save opportunities in Minnesota.

Minnesota Twins closer Jhoan Duran improved to 5-3 in Monday's 8-6 extra-innings win over the White Sox. Duran came in to pitch the bottom of the 10th inning with the game tied and pitched a scoreless inning, allowing no hits and a walk with a strikeout. The Twins would score in the top of the 11th and Kody Funderburk closed out the game, making Duran the winning pitcher. The 26-year-old has not provided the strikeouts fantasy managers were expecting but has been solid overall, converting 13 of 14 save opportunities with a 3.14 ERA, an 8.16 K/9 rate, and a 3.14 BB/9 rate in 28 2/3 innings pitched. He did miss the start of the season with a right oblique strain and his pitches are all down about one MPH, but he still has electric stuff, which should help boost his strikeout rate.