Jhoan Duran DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

Minnesota Twins pitcher Jhoan Duran walked and struck out a batter to secure his ninth save in Tuesday's 4-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Rays. Duran got Junior Caminero to strike out to begin the bottom of the ninth. However, he spent 14 pitches over his next two at-bats to Jonathan Aranda (single) and Chandler Simpson (ground out) before Jose Caballero flied out to send everyone home. The 27-year-old didn't have the easiest time getting through his appearance, but has pitched a scoreless outing 14 of the last 15 times he's toed the rubber. The Dominican Republic native holds a stellar 1.07 ERA and 1.11 WHIP with a 30:11 K:BB ratio (25 1/3 innings) and has some of the best expected metrics of his career.

Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Jhoan Duran was called upon to hold a one-run lead against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday. The right-hander gave up a two-out single, but ended up striking out Jarren Duran to earn his fourth save of the season. Duran has recorded saves in back-to-back games, but he has been pretty quiet before that. To be fair, it's not really his fault as the Twins aren't winning too many games to give Duran save chances. The right-hander is one of the better relief pitchers in the league as seen by his 1.17 ERA on the season. Despite the lack of chances, Duran needs to be rostered in most fantasy formats.

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.