Francisco Liriano Casillas (born October 26, 1983) is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, and Detroit Tigers. Liriano was an MLB All-Star in 2006, and is a two-time winner of the MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award (and the only player to win the award in both leagues). Professional career San Francisco Giants Liriano signed with the San Francisco Giants as an international free agent in 2000. After the 2003 season, the Giants traded him to the Minnesota Twins, along with pitchers Joe Nathan and Boof Bonser, in exchange for catcher A. J. Pierzynski. Minnesota Twins 2005 Often compared to former teammate Johan Santana, another hard-throwing lefty, Liriano was touted as one of the "super-prospects" within the Twins organization. As a member of the Rochester Red Wings, Minnesota's Triple-A farm club, Liriano was awarded the 2005 International League Rookie of the Year. He led all minor league pitchers in strikeouts that year, with 204. He made his major league debut in relief on September 5, 2005 against the Texas Rangers, allowing a home run to his first batter, Gary Matthews Jr., before retiring his next three batters. He later joined the Twins' starting rotation and won his first game on September 30, 2005, against the Detroit Tigers. 2006 Liriano began the 2006 season in Minnesota's bullpen, but was promoted to the starting rotation in May, exchanging positions with struggling starter Carlos Silva. He started the season 12–3 and won the American League Rookie of the Month awards for June and July. He was named by American League manager Ozzie Guillén as one of five candidates for the 2006 All-Star Final Vote and finished second to the player he was traded for, A. J. Pierzynski. Guillén selected Liriano for his first All-Star game to replace fatigued starting pitcher José Contreras. 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