Why are the Twins giving innings to MLB’s worst pitcher since 1890?

Davis, who was a September call-up for the Twins, has the worst career ERA by a pitcher with at least 60 innings since 1890.

Apr 25, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Noah Davis (56) delivers to the plate in the seventh inning Pittsburgh Pirates at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

This Twins season has faded completely into irrelevance and fan apathy, but they're still playing nine innings of baseball nearly every day and will continue to do so for the rest of this month. And even in a lost season, there are still interesting things happening that are worth analyzing.

Some of those are positive developments for the future, like Luke Keaschall's continued success and Royce Lewis's recent surge. Some are on the other side of the spectrum, like the question we're going to explore today: What on earth could the Twins possibly see in reliever Noah Davis?

If you don't know who Noah Davis is, that's understandable. He's a 28-year-old former 11th-round pick who made his MLB debut with the Rockies in 2022, pitched for the Dodgers earlier this year, and was acquired by the Twins (for cash considerations) in July. He was briefly called up from Triple-A St. Paul, sent back down, and then called up again when rosters expanded on September 1.

Here's what's fascinating about Davis: Across 61.1 MLB innings, he has a career ERA of 9.54 and a WHIP of 2.04. He's given up 96 hits, 29 walks, 65 earned runs, and 16 home runs during those innings. Per Baseball Reference, he's been worth -2.2 Wins Above Replacement, including -1.2 this year alone.

After Davis allowed a three-run homer in low-leverage duty during another blowout Twins loss to the White Sox on Tuesday, The Athletic's Aaron Gleeman dug up an incredible stat: Davis's 9.54 ERA is the worst by any MLB pitcher with at least 60 career innings since 1890.

Yes, you read that right. Not 1980, but 1890. 135 years ago, a 20-year-old pitcher named William Stecher threw 68 innings for the Philadelphia Athletics (of the American Association of Base Ball Clubs) in a little over a month at the end of a losing season. He surrendered 111 hits, 60 walks (with just 18 strikeouts), and 78 earned runs, good for a 10.32 ERA. Stecher never pitched in the major leagues again.

At this very moment, Davis is the first person since Stecher to have an ERA of 9.54 or higher in at least 60 innings. He's one decent inning away from dipping below Hayden Penn (9.51 ERA in 82.1 innings from 2005-2010), but the stat remains a remarkable one for the time being.

The point is that pitchers almost never get to throw this many innings in MLB if they don't experience some level of success. Davis had a 7.71 ERA in parts of three seasons with the Rockies, who removed him from their 40-man roster last September. He had a 19.50 ERA in six innings with the Dodgers earlier this year, mostly due to an outing on July 4 where he gave up 10 earned runs in 1.1 innings against the Astros. He now has an 18.00 ERA as a Twin, having given up multiple runs in all three of his outings for Minnesota.

Davis hasn't even been particularly successful in the minor leagues, where he has a career 4.57 ERA over 460 innings. He had a 4.50 mark for the Rockies' Triple-A team in 2023, with 45 strikeouts and 35 walks in 60 innings. He had a 5.77 ERA for that same Albuquerque team last year. Davis was decent for the Dodgers' Triple-A affiliate earlier this year, but with the Twins' affiliate in St. Paul, he's walked seven batters in 11.1 innings.

It's just very difficult to understand what the Twins have seen in Davis to not only trade for him in July, but to call him up to their big-league roster multiple times. He doesn't throw particularly hard. He has some theoretical swing-and-miss stuff, but he struggles with control. And above all else, he's gotten hit extremely hard in the process of allowing 65 earned runs in 61.1 MLB frames.

The fact that he's on the Twins' roster instead of some sort of prospect doesn't make much sense.

I always defer to smarter baseball people than me, but I just have no idea what they see with Noah Davis. None.

— Brandon Warne (@Brandon_Warne) September 3, 2025

Who is Noah Davis? Why is he in the majors? What kind of slop product has this franchise become? And the Pohlads are staying…absolute disaster doesn’t begin to describe it.

— Jeff (@MNTwinsZealot) September 3, 2025