Brian Duensing
Minnesota Twins — No. 52
Starting pitcher
Born: February 22, 1983 (1983-02-22) (age 26) Marysville, Kansas
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
MLB debut
April 10, 2009 for the Minnesota Twins
Career statistics (through 2009 season)
Win–Loss	5-2
ERA	3.64
Strikeouts	53
Teams
Minnesota Twins (2009-present)

Olympic medal record
Competitor for  United States
Men's baseball
Bronze	2008 Beijing	Team

Brian Duensing (born February 22, 1983 in Marysville, Kansas) is a major league baseball starting pitcher for the Minnesota Twins.

[edit] Early life

[edit] Amateur Career

[edit] High school

Duensing went to Millard South High School in Omaha, Nebraska, where he earned second-team all-state honors in both his junior and senior years. His senior year he batted .429, and went 2-2 with a 3.78 earned run average on the mound. His combined record in two seasons of American Legion ball was 16-3 with 141 strikeouts. He had a 0.74 ERA, and a .522 batting average his second season.

[edit] University of Nebraska

Duensing was a college teammate of New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain and Kansas City Royals third baseman Alex Gordon at the University of Nebraska.

In 2002 as a freshman, Duensing went 6-2 with a 4.73 ERA and 60 strikeouts (versus 25 walks) in 78 innings over 18 appearances (12 starts). He replaced Shane Komine in the starting rotation in Big 12 play while Komine was injured. He won 6 games in a row before losing to Richmond in the Super Regional. He helped the Huskers reach the 2002 College World Series throwing 11.2 consecutive scoreless innings in the NCAA Regional and Super Regional until allowing three runs in the 9th. He was an honorable-mention freshman all-American and was on the Big 12 all-freshman team.

His 2003 season was cut short by of an elbow injury that required surgery. He had gone 3-0 over four starts with a 2.42 ERA and 24 strikeouts versus six walks. After sitting 2004 out as a medical redshirt having Tommy John surgery, Duensing had a breakout season going 8-0 in 2005 with a 2.60 ERA in 21 appearances. He threw 15 consecutive shutout innings in the Big 12 Baseball Tournament and helped the Huskers reach the 2005 College World Series 50 miles away.^[1]

[edit] Professional career

[edit] Minor League

Brian Duensing with Rochester Red Wings in 2008.

Duensing was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft. After he was drafted, he played for the rookie team Elizabethton Twins, going 4-3 with a 2.32 ERA and striking out 55. In 2006, he went 5-10 in 28 games with a 3.49 ERA with 3 teams, the AA New Britain Rock Cats, A Fort Myers Miracle and A Beloit Snappers. In 2007, he played part of the season with the Rock Cats going 4-1. He was then promoted to the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, where he went 11-5 with 3 complete games, 3.24 ERA and 86 srikeouts for the rest of the season.^[2]

[edit] USA Baseball Olympic Team

Duensing was 5-11 with a 4.32 ERA and 76 strike outs in 23 starts with the Red Wings in 2008 before ending his season in order to represent the United States at the 2008 Olympics.^[3] He posted Brian's Baseball Blog from Beijing to give fans personal insight to the games from a player's perspective.^[4]

In his only appearance, on August 16, Duensing pitched 3.1 scoreless innings in relief to earn the win for team USA against Canada. He gave up only one hit while striking out three.

[edit] Major League

An injury to Twins pitcher Scott Baker opened a spot for Duensing on the Twins' 2009 opening day roster.^[5] He made his major league debut on April 10, giving up a two run home run to Carlos Quentin for his only earned runs in three innings pitched in the Twins' 12-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox. ^[6] He was returned to Rochester on the 14th when Baker returned from the disabled list.^[7] While he was back in triple-A he went 4-6 with a 4.66 ERA in 13 starts at Rochester. The Twins recalled Duensing up on July 2, sending down Sean Henn to Rochester.^[8] The next day he made his second appearance of the season, relieving 3 2/3 innings, allowing one run on one hit while walking one and striking out two against the Detroit Tigers.^[9] On July 29, Duensing made his first major league start, against the Chicago White Sox, filling in for Francisco Liriano, who was scratched with inflammation in his left forearm. He went 5 innings, giving up 2 runs, which were both home runs, on 3 hits in a no decision.^[10] Duensing got his first major league win on August 22 against the Kansas City Royals.^[11] He won his following start going a career best 7 innings striking out 8 batters.^[12] Duensing started for the Twins in Game 1 of the 2009 ALDS against C.C. Sabathia and the New York Yankees.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Minor League Stats