Francisco Liriano

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**Francisco Liriano**

Minnesota Twins — No. 47
Pitcher
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
Major League Baseball debut
September 5, 2005 for the Minnesota Twins
Selected MLB statistics (through 2006 season)
ERA	2.74
Strikeouts	177
Record	13-5

Francisco Casillas Liriano (born October 26, 1983 in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic) is a left handed Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Minnesota Twins.

Liriano was acquired by the Twins as a throw-in prospect in a deal that sent A.J. Pierzynski (now of the Chicago White Sox) to the San Francisco Giants for closer Joe Nathan and starter Boof Bonser. Often compared to teammate Johan Santana, another hard-throwing lefty, Liriano is touted as one of the "super-prospects" within the Minnesota Twins organization and has even been nick-named "The Franchise" by some Twins players and fans. Liriano has four pitches in his arsenal: an above-average fastball that has been clocked as high as 98 MPH, a devastating slider^[1], a changeup similar to that of Santana, as well as a curveball.

He made his major league debut in relief on September 5, 2005 against the Texas Rangers. He later joined the Twins' starting rotation and won his first game on September 30, 2005 against the Detroit Tigers. Liriano started the 2006 season in Minnesota's bullpen, but was promoted to the starting rotation in May, exchanging positions with struggling starter Carlos Silva. He won his first three 2006 starts.

After a 12-3 start to the 2006 season, which included two Rookie of the Month nods and a spot on the American League All-Star roster, Liriano led the Major Leagues with a 2.19 ERA, statistics putting him in discussion for both the American League Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards, but a trip to the disabled list on August 11 left him with too few innings to qualify as the league's official ERA leader and jeopardized his chances at any such awards in 2006. On August 1, 2006, Liriano was scratched from his scheduled August 2 start because of forearm inflammation after a bullpen session.^[2] He missed one start before resuming bullpen work without pain, but was placed on the disabled list after continued arm pain during his last start on August 7, 2006. Liriano began a rehabilitation program on August 22, and threw off a mound for the first time on August 30, throwing only his fastball and changeup, and said that he would like to pitch his breaking ball later that week. Liriano made a rehab start for the Rochester Red Wings on September 9, throwing 40 pitches for four strikeouts and one walk in three shutout, hitless innings. After the game, Liriano reported feeling no pain in his elbow and was reactivated by the Twins. On Wednesday, September 13, 2006, Liriano started for the Twins in an afternoon game vs. the Oakland Athletics and went two-plus innings before leaving the game in the third inning with pain in his left elbow, ending his 2006 campaign.

On November 6, 2006 Liriano underwent Tommy John Surgery to curtail the pain in his left elbow. Liriano will miss the entire 2007 season, but should return for spring training of 2008.

1 Notable games
2 Achievements
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] Notable games

6/22/2006 at Houston, Francisco faced off against Roger Clemens, who was making his 2006 Major League starting debut, and Liriano outdueled Clemens, striking out seven for the seventh win of his career.
7/2/06 vs. Milwaukee, Liriano, recorded a career high 12 strikeouts, as he only allowed three hits to the Milwaukee Brewers over 8 innings, extending his consecutive win streak to 5 games, and lowering his ERA to 1.99. He also recorded his first major league hit, and RBI.
7/8/06 vs. Texas, Liriano beat the Texas Rangers 4-0, striking out 8 in 7 innings and winning his 10th game of the season (10-1). He also lowered his ERA to a league leading 1.83 (Liriano previously did not have enough innings pitched as a starter to qualify for the honor).

[edit] Achievements

As a member of the Rochester Red Wings, Minnesota's AAA farm club, Liriano was awarded International League Rookie of the year in 2005.
Named the American League Rookie of the Month for June 2006 in a Twins' sweep of the AL monthly awards, with Johan Santana named Pitcher of the Month and Twins' catcher Joe Mauer Player of the Month.
Named by American League manager Ozzie Guillen as one of five candidates for the Monster 2006 All-Star Final Vote. Liriano finished second to the player he was traded for, A.J. Pierzynski.
On July 10, 2006 Liriano was named to his first All-Star game by American League Manager Ozzie Guillen to replace fatigued starting pitcher Jose Contreras.^[3]
Named American League Rookie of the Month July 2006, his second consecutive such award.