Keizertimes., January 15, 2021, Page 10, Image 10

PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 15, 2021
KEIZERTIMES.COM
#3 Joe Nathan
TOP 20
20
Volcanoes
players
of all time
Jim McIssac/Getty Images
Joe Nathan pitched for the Minnesota Twins for seven seasons and is the franchise’s all-time
leader in saves.
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
At #3 on the Keizertimes
list of the 20 greatest Volca-
noes players of all time is Joe
Nathan — a right-handed
closer who appeared in six
All-Star Games and is argu-
ably one of the greatest clos-
ers of all time.
Nathan was a fl amethrow-
er and had the ability to
touch the high 90s with his
four-seam fastball. He also
had a slider in the high 80s,
which was his best swing-
and-miss pitch.
Early on in his baseball ca-
reer, Nathan was an infi elder.
After graduating from Pine
Bush High School in New
York in 1992, Nathan stayed
local and committed to play
baseball at Stony Brook Uni-
versity — which, at the time,
was a Division III school.
Nathan was primarily used as
a shortstop, but would come
in to pitch occasionally.
Despite attending a small
school, scouts began to no-
tice his strong arm, along
with his pitcher's body —
Nathan is listed at 6-foot-4.
However, on a day where
numerous scouts were in at-
tendance to watch Nathan
pitch, the game was rained
out. Scouts instead watched
him in a throwing session.
Nathan was drafted by the
San Francisco Giants in the
sixth round of the 1995 Ma-
jor League Baseball (MLB)
Draft. In his fi rst season as a
professional, Nathan did not
pitch and exclusively played
infi eld. But he only batted
.232 in 56 games in Single-A
with the Bellingham Giants.
In the offseason, the San
Francisco organization told
Nathan that in order to real-
ize his Major League dream,
he would need to switch
positions. Nathan was dis-
heartened and even left the
game for a year to go back
to school and get his degree
from Stony Brook. However,
in 1997, Nathan returned to
the organization and began
his development as a pitcher.
Nathan pitched for the
Volcanoes in 1997 and went
2-1 with a 2.47 ERA in 62
innings. He spent the ma-
jority of the 1998 season in
advanced Single-A with San
Jose, going 8-6 with a 3.32
ERA and 118 strikeouts in
22 starts.
While he began the 1999
season in Double-A, Nathan
was called up by the Giants
and made his MLB debut on
April 21, 1999. Nathan threw
seven scoreless innings in his
fi rst MLB game, leading the
Giants to a 4-0 victory over
the Florida Marlins. He went
back and forth between the
Giants and the Triple-A
Fresno Grizzlies for the re-
mainder of the year. Nathan
went 7-4 with a 4.18 ERA
in 14 starts for the Giants.
Nathan had a short stint
in the minors in 2000, but
played the majority of the
year for the Giants. However,
he greatly struggled with his
command. Nathan walked
63 batters in 93.1 innings
and had a 5.21 ERA. Nathan
also landed on the disabled
list multiple times through-
out the season with issues in
his throwing shoulder.
Nathan wound up getting
surgery on his injured shoul-
der and spent 2001 and most
of 2002 rehabbing in the mi-
nors.
When he rejoined the Gi-
ants in 2003, Nathan was ex-
clusively used as a setup man
out of the bullpen, which is
when he began to have a lot
of success.
Nathan threw 23 con-
secutive scoreless innings to
begin the season. From July
18 to Aug. 20, Nathan also
had 15 consecutive appear-
ances where he didn't allow
a run. Nathan was one of the
most used pitchers in base-
ball in 2003, appearing in 78
games and posting a 12-4 re-
cord with a 2.96 ERA and
83 strikeouts — his 12 wins
in relief was the best mark in
MLB.
The Giants won the Na-
tional League (NL) West di-
vision but lost in the division
series to the Marlins, who
went on to win the 2003
World Series.
Before the 2004 season,
Nathan was traded to the
Minnesota Twins along with
former Volcano players Boof
Bonser and Francisco Liria-
no. During spring training,
the Twins elected to make
Nathan their closer. It was
considered a risky move at
the time considering that
Nathan only had recorded
one save at this point in his
career. But the move end-
ed up paying dividends for
Minnesota.
From April 15 to June 4,
Nathan allowed no runs in
20 appearances and recorded
14 saves during that time-
span. He won an American
League (AL) Co-Player of
the Week award in May and
was selected to his fi rst All-
Star Game. He was the only
player from Minnesota se-
lected for the game and he
pitched a perfect seventh in-
ning.
Nathan continued to im-
press after the all-star break as
he fi nished the season with
44 saves in 47 opportunities
and an ERA of 1.62. The
Twins won the AL Central,
and faced the New York Yan-
kees in the AL Division Se-
ries (ALDS). Nathan picked
up his fi rst playoff save in
Milo Stewart/National Baseball Hall of Fame
Nathan (left) and John Parrish (right) pose with a young fan at the the baseball Hall of Fame’s
Night at the Museum event in 2019.
game one, but he blew a save
in game two as the Yankees
won the series in four games.
Nathan ended up fi n-
ishing fourth in Cy Young
voting in 2004 and 12th in
AL MVP voting. He picked
up right where he left off to
begin the 2005 season, al-
lowing no earned runs in 15
appearances from April 5 to
May 10. Nathan led the AL
in saves for the fi rst half of
the season, converting 23 of
25, and also won an AL Play-
er of the Week award in June.
Nathan's success earned him
a second straight trip to the
All-Star Game.
As good as he was in the
fi rst half of 2005, Nathan was
even more dominant in the
second half of the season,
posting a 6-1 record with
18 saves in 20 chances, be-
coming the third pitcher in
franchise history to record
consecutive 40-save seasons.
Nathan ended the year with
a 7-4 record and a 2.70 ERA
with 94 strikeouts.
In 2006, Nathan con-
verted his 100th career save
against the Chicago Cubs on
June 24. Four days later, Na-
than got his 100th save with
the Twins, becoming the fi fth
player in franchise history to
reach that mark.
Despite not being selected
to his third straight All-Star
Game, Nathan continued to
establish himself as one of
the best closers in baseball.
In July, Nathan was named
the MLB Delivery Man of
Please see NATHAN, Page A8
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