According to Granite City Sports out of St. Cloud, Twins general manager Thad Levine announced on a recent stop that former Twins closer Glen Perkins has decided to retire. According to the team’s official website, the Week 2 – Route 1 crew was in St. Cloud on Monday evening at River’s Edge Convention Center. Levine has apparently tagged along with the crew, which included pitcher Jose Berrios, outfielder Eddie Rosario and television play-by-play broadcaster Dick Bremer.

Perkins was one of five first-round picks for the Twins in the 2004 MLB draft — Trevor Plouffe (No. 20), Perkins (No. 22 with the pick Seattle forfeited for signing Eddie Guardado), Kyle Waldrop (No. 25 with the pick the Cubs forfeited for signing LaTroy Hawkins), Matt Fox (No. 35, a supplemental pick for the Guardado signing) and Jay Rainville (No. 39, a supplemental pick for the Hawkins signing).

Future Twins Phil Humber and Phil Hughes — taken one pick after Perkins — were also selected in the first round that year.

The Twins selected Perkins after a storied two-year career at the University of Minnesota where he posted a 19-5 record, 2.87 ERA and 230 strikeouts in 216.1 innings (9.6 K/9). Perkins was the highest player selected from the school since catcher Dan Wilson went seventh overall in 1990. At the time he was drafted, Perkins had gone 15-0 with a 2.09 ERA in Big Ten play, and had set the two highest single-season strikeout marks in school history.

Perkins’ early years as a starter and swingman were marred iffy rates and little consistency — 4.81 ERA, 4.7 K/9, 1.44 WHIP through his age-27 season — but once he was put in the bullpen full-time, his career really took off.

From 2011 until the last of three straight All-Star seasons in 2015, Perkins posted a 2.84 ERA (2.99 FIP) with well over a strikeout per inning (9.8 K/9) and three straight seasons with 30-plus saves.

Perkins played his entire MLB career with the Minnesota Twins — including his determined effort to get back on a big-league mound after a catastrophic shoulder injury — and finally climbed that peak in late 2017 prior to his retirement.

Among all-time Twins in terms of saves, Perkins ranks third:

1. Joe Nathan – 260
2. Rick Aguilera – 254
3. Glen Perkins – 120
4. Eddie Guardado – 116
5. Ron Davis – 108
6. Jeff Reardon – 104

We’ll add more as we get team verification of Perkins’ retirement and any other possible coverage we can.

Listen to Brandon on Midwest Swing

Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne covers the Minnesota Twins for Zone Coverage and is also the site's senior editor. He hosts the Midwest Swing podcast for the site as well. He and his wife Amanda live in the outer Twin Cities suburbs with their daughter, Harper.

All Articles