Scott was drafted in the fourth round by the Minnesota Twins out of the Univerity of Arizona after posting an impressive 18-win season as the ace of the Pac-10 champion Wildcats and leading the NCAA in innings pitched with 173. He was sent to Visilia, a fast-A league, and pitched very well there, making himself one of the best prospects in the Minnesota organization.

Scott's rookie season. Erickson was called up barely a year after the Twins drafted him the year before, on June 21. The pitching-desperate Twins called Scott up from Double-A, where he had posted a strong 8-3 record. He wasn't intimidated at all by the big leagues and ended up with the best winning percentage in the last-place Twins' rotation and an impressive 2.87 ERA. Although Erickson quickly found the Metrodome turf made a lot of groundballs into hits, he still posted a  5-0 record at home.  Erickson had an exceptional September, 5-0 with a 1.35 ERA, setting a precedent for his future strong Septembers. Scott was one of the brightest spots in the Twins otherwise bleak year.

Scotty's best year so far. At the beginning of the season Scott was a prospect with a solid rookie year behind him, but after an 0-2 start, Scott reeled off twelve straight winning decisions and was the key factor in lifting the Twins into first place in the AL West.  At one point Erickson had a 30.1 inning scoreless streak. His ERA was at a miniscule 1.38 before the winning streak ended. During that span of time, Erickson was unquestionably the most dominant pitcher in the majors. But an elbow injury took away Scott's chance at starting the All-Star game and considerable velocity on his sinker. He had an ERA over 5.00 in the second half, a forgettable August, and ended up having to win in his last regular season start to get win #20. Postseason was shaky for the righthander, as he had problems in both the ALCS vs. Toronto and in the World Series against Atlanta. But with his team facing elimination in Game Six and his mound opponent NLCS MVP Steve Avery, Erickson stepped up and delivered as good a outing as his bad elbow would permit. The Twins went on to win the game, and, the next day, the Series. Scott finished the season second in Cy Young voting and with a world championship ring.

This was Scott Erickson's year of transition from the young hard thrower to a complete pitcher. He didn't have the fastball that got him twelve straight wins the previous year and struggled in the first half of the season. Scott improved as the season went along. He spun a pretty one-hitter against Boston in one of three shutouts, and  he finished strong with a sub-3.00 ERA in the second half and a 3.40 ERA overall. He really didn't pitch much worse than in 1991, but his run support fell a run and a half, so his record was barely above .500.

A very bad year.  Erickson was in a bad situation from the start, missing most of spring training and the beginning of the season with an injury. In addition, he was out of sync with catcher Brian Harper, being accustomed to having a private catcher. He lost his first four starts off the DL, and things never really got better. Not once all season did Scott win even two decisions in a row. He went 3-10 in the second half and had two starts left with after losing his nineteenth. To Erickson's credit, he didn't take himself out of the rotation and pitched fairly well in his final two starts, but failed to win any more games than eight due to blown leads by the bullpen.

It was a strange year, Erickson threw a no-hitter and also had an outing which he gave up ten runs inside four innings; his strikeout rate increased dramatically and so did his bases on balls, wild pitches, and hit batsmen. Scott started off poorly and got into an unhappy situation with Twins manager Tom Kelly. Things calmed down for a while after Scott's no-hitter in late April, when he appeared to have gotten his stuff back together. But then Erickson got hurt and never quite fully recovered. He had a decent June but a nightmarish July, losing every decision from July 6th forward.  He pitched well in his last outing before the strike but did not factor in the decision.  His poor season led him to ask for a trade and a change of scenary.

A crazy year. During the strike Scott had reached a verbal agreement with the Colorado Rockies on a two-year contract in case players with four years of service could file for free agency, which didn't happen. He ended up agreeing with the Twins to a one-year deal and was their Opening Day starter. Scott lost his first three starts, extending a losing streak which dated back to July of the previous year to eight. The Orioles, whom Scott beat on Independence Day for what turned out to be his last win in a Twins uniform, finally traded for him on July 7th, as Scott was granted his trade request. The July 4th win got him exactly one game over .500 in his Twins career. After the trade Erickson had a fine July but struggled in August. In September , he stepped up and posted a 1.47 ERA with a 5-0 record, giving up no home runs all month. He ended up with a two shutouts and a career high seven complete games--all in the second half with the Orioles.

1996 was a disappointing year for Scott, who came off a strong September in 1995 and an impressive spring. A couple of early rainouts affected his pitching, and he really struggled in May, when he posted the worst starters' ERA in the American League. He seemed to put things together for a few starts before the All-Star break, but only got two wins out of it.  After the break Erickson had problems again and saw his ERA rise to near 6.00 and his record fall to 5-10. He finished strong after the Orioles went to the four-man rotation, thriving on three days rest. He was 8-2 in the second half and got his record above .500.  Plagued with bad luck, he did not win a game in the post-season.

Scott finished the 1997 season 16-7 with a very respectable ERA. He started off very well, as he had his first winning April and won six decisions in a row and followed with an excellent May. He ran into trouble late-May/early-June with rough starts. Erickson returned to form against the likes of Tom Glavine and Roger Clemens. Scott struggled for four starts after being snubbed for the All-Star team, suffering his worst career outing against Detroit. He was near perfect against his old Minnesota mates, going 4-0 with a 1.34 ERA against the Twins. For the first time in his career his K/BB ratio was better than 2:1. He finally won his first postseason game and looked brilliant in Game 1 of the ALCS, proving himself capable of pitching under pressure..

Scott had a bit of an up and down season in 1998, starting off well at 3-0. He pitched well and topped the AL with a career-high eleven complete games.  He reached a milestone with his first win of the season on April 1st, when he won his 100th career game. He proved the most durable member of otherwise oft-injured Orioles' starting rotation, as he lead the league not only in complete games but also in games started and innings pitched. Scott started the second half as scintillatingly as the first and faltered a bit after a 3-0 start just as in the first half but remained the league's most durable pitcher.  On September 21, he reached another milestone by picking up his 1000th career strikeout in a game where he achieved a single-game high in strikeouts with 12.