Gonsalves- continues making a mockery of the MIdwest League

[jokin]

Pretty much just another (dominating) day at the office for 20-year old Stephen Gonsalves today:

 

7 IP 0 ER 11 K

 

After today's performance, in glancing at the qualified pitchers leaderboard for the Midwest League, Gonsalves is the leader- in many cases, way out in front (or in a couple instances 2nd place), in the following categories:

 

ERA

 

confirmed by both:

FIP

&

SIERA

 

H/9

K/9

K%

KS%

WHIP (2nd lowest)

BA 

OBP  (2nd lowest)

SLG

OPS

IFB%

LD% (2nd lowest)

wOBA

 

 

No matter what his pitch selection may, or may not be (the latest reason given for keeping him off of a faster track), it sure seems like it's clearly time to move him to Ft Myers.

 

 

 

[diehardtwinsfan]

yeah, I think he gets the  call when they do the June promotions. 

[70charger]

Love it. Can't wait to see what he does to the FSL. He must be jumping up people's prospect boards at this point, huh?

[jokin]

Even if he doesn't have the sexiest stuff, I have to think the "experts" are going to be sitting up and taking notice at what he's done the first two months of the season, seems like almost a sure bet at some point this year to end up on multiple Top 100 lists.

[Cap'n Piranha]

MiLB has a nice write-up of the game (link at the bottom of the post), including the two quotes below, from Gonsalves himself, that I thought were particularly interesting.

 

"The Twins told us this year they wanted us to be strikeout pitchers," Gonsalves said. "That meant getting more aggressive with two-strike counts. Throwing the ball in the dirt, throwing high fastballs, using more changeups. I'm starting to get really aggressive with my strikeout pitches, and I've gotten lucky here and there too that guys are swinging and missing."

 

"My coaches keep telling me to keep working on what the Twins wants," he said. "For me, that's mixing in the curveball a little more. The goal is to be striking out big league hitters instead of guys at just this level. So my first five starts, I was able to get away with just a fastball and changeup, and now I'm getting some results with the curve, too. It'll be interesting to see if that holds next week."

 

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20150601&content_id=127928308&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&sid=milb

[Hrbowski]

 

MiLB has a nice write-up of the game (link at the bottom of the post), including the two quotes below, from Gonsalves himself, that I thought were particularly interesting.

 

"The Twins told us this year they wanted us to be strikeout pitchers," Gonsalves said. "That meant getting more aggressive with two-strike counts. Throwing the ball in the dirt, throwing high fastballs, using more changeups. I'm starting to get really aggressive with my strikeout pitches, and I've gotten lucky here and there too that guys are swinging and missing."

 

"My coaches keep telling me to keep working on what the Twins wants," he said. "For me, that's mixing in the curveball a little more. The goal is to be striking out big league hitters instead of guys at just this level. So my first five starts, I was able to get away with just a fastball and changeup, and now I'm getting some results with the curve, too. It'll be interesting to see if that holds next week."

 

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20150601&content_id=127928308&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&sid=milb

 

I think that Neil Allen has kinda changed the whole thinking of the organization.

[jokin]

 

I think that Neil Allen has kinda changed the whole thinking of the organization.

 

I've been a big backer of Neil Allen  (going after Tampa personnel has proven to be a wise move by the Twins).  Although there is a risk in making too much of the move, and perhaps giving Allen too much credit ( the major league K/9 number is actually down 0.7 Ks from 2014), to this point, it's hard to argue with the overall results.

[drivlikejehu]

Neil Allen isn't in charge of the organization's pitching philosophy. That's not a knock on him at all, I like him, but it's just not his role. 

[jokin]

 

Neil Allen isn't in charge of the organization's pitching philosophy. That's not a knock on him at all, I like him, but it's just not his role. 

 

Definitely not his role, but considering that he was the prime developer of many of Tampa's up-and-coming pitching prospects, I would think his voice was heard with regard to his developmental philosophies in preparation for this season.

[JaleelWhite FanClub]

 

Neil Allen isn't in charge of the organization's pitching philosophy. That's not a knock on him at all, I like him, but it's just not his role. 

 

Who is then? I remember Andersen getting credited (them mocked gloriously for 4+ years) for the pitch to contact mantra. It starts at the top. Quotes like the one below get me excited and feeling like the organization has finally caught up the the rest of the league.

 

"The Twins told us this year they wanted us to be strikeout pitchers," Gonsalves said.

[drivlikejehu]

 

Who is then? I remember Andersen getting credited (them mocked gloriously for 4+ years) for the pitch to contact mantra. It starts at the top. Quotes like the one below get me excited and feeling like the organization has finally caught up the the rest of the league.

 

"The Twins told us this year they wanted us to be strikeout pitchers," Gonsalves said.

 

It's from the front office. Major League teams have all kinds of coaches in the organization - they don't report to guys in the big club's dugout. Their orders come from upstairs.

[JaleelWhite FanClub]

 

It's from the front office. Major League teams have all kinds of coaches in the organization - they don't report to guys in the big club's dugout. Their orders come from upstairs.

 

I know you're right, but it's hard for me to admit it since we've had the same front office people now for a while whom have always been a bit behind the times. I guess 90+ losses for 4 straight seasons while ranking last in strikeouts can kind of knock some sense into the most stubborn of people (TR), but not all of them (anybody regretting losing Gardy & Andy?).

 

You can probably trace the mentality back to the 2012 draft and the glutton of big arm relievers the Twins drafted that year.

[JaleelWhite FanClub]

Let me be the one to officially sopen the #FreeStephen campaign.

[jimbo92107]

I wonder if Stephen Gonsalves represents a sea change in the attitude of this organization. For years now I've wondered why it seems like the Rays come up with one great young pitcher after another, when they draft about the same level of talent as the Twins.

 

Maybe now we're starting to find out. Along with the terrible idea of "pitch to contact," the Twins appear to have emphasized young pitchers relying on a couple pitches, like a fastball and a slider, in the lower levels of their system. Then a pitcher was supposed to refine his game and add pitches as he approached the major league level... I guess that was the theory.

 

Problem is, it's hard to refine your full game if you don't use it, and if you get to the majors with only half a game, you'll get killed. This sounds like a good way to ensure that most of your best prospect arms wind up being relief pitchers. Like Alex Meyer.

 

Trevor May is a good example of how a guy fights through this system, despite a lack of training to be a complete pitcher. A very good athelete, May came up to the majors literally without knowing how to keep runners from stealing bases while still getting batters out. Why didn't somebody teach him that in rookie league? And why didn't he know how to mix in a change up before he got to the show? Why do so many Twins pitchers finish their pitches off balance and not ready to field their positions?

 

It's good that the Twins want their minor leaguers to work on being "strike out pitchers." It would be even better if they demanded that every pitcher in the Twins organization was a complete pitcher, with a full set of skills, a game plan and everything.

[clutterheart]

It'll be interesting to see if that holds next week."

 

Maybe he means in Florida.

[Steven Buhr]

 

Let me be the one to officially sopen the #FreeStephen campaign.

 

Short campaign. Gonsalves is headed to Florida per his own Tweet this evening.

 

Stephen Gonsalves ‏@TheSGonsalves  10 minutes ago
I want to thank the @CRKernels fans for my time here and ending it with a standing ovation. I'm on my way to Florida to continue my year.

[bulldozier14]

 

Short campaign. Gonsalves is headed to Florida per his own Tweet this evening.

 

Stephen Gonsalves ‏@TheSGonsalves  10 minutes ago
I want to thank the @CRKernels fans for my time here and ending it with a standing ovation. I'm on my way to Florida to continue my year.

Whoa! Awesome! 

[kab21]

 

It's from the front office. Major League teams have all kinds of coaches in the organization - they don't report to guys in the big club's dugout. Their orders come from upstairs.

Somebody is advising the FO what orders to give.  I'm fairly certain that the MLB pitching coach is listened to by the FO for a good part of their org philosophy. 

[jokin]

 

Short campaign. Gonsalves is headed to Florida per his own Tweet this evening.

 

Stephen Gonsalves ‏@TheSGonsalves  10 minutes ago
I want to thank the @CRKernels fans for my time here and ending it with a standing ovation. I'm on my way to Florida to continue my year.

 

Whoa! Awesome! 

 

Indeed it is.  Thanks, JC, for the update, you made my night...

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

I wonder if Stephen Gonsalves represents a sea change in the attitude of this organization. For years now I've wondered why it seems like the Rays come up with one great young pitcher after another, when they draft about the same level of talent as the Twins.

The Rays aren't a good comparison. They drafted top five from their introduction to 2009. The Twins were bottom 15 drafter almost every year from 2002-2011. Since 2009, the Rays haven't been as infallible as they once appeared. Shocking.

 

Now if you want to talk Cardinals...

[drjim]

The long national nightmare is over. But Berrios is still in AA so there is still something.

 

I'll be most interested to see if he can keep that k rate up, then the Twins might have something.

[brvama]

First this is great news for SG, the Twins, Ft Meyers, and us, the fans. One thing is that he definitely forced their hand and I think that's what will move players early. As TR said Sunday about Vargas and Pinto, they need to force their promotion, Right or wrong, that seems to be his position, outside of need.

 

Second, it's not impossible to change philosophy, but it also requires the talent to make that change. I believe that happened when they started drafting the SO pitcher. Still there needs to a unanimous focus on that change to pull it off. And it looks like the development of the players is starting to show that change. I like the what I'm seeing and hearing so far. Let's hope it continues.

[kab21]

 

The long national nightmare is over. But Berrios is still in AA so there is still something.

 

I'll be most interested to see if he can keep that k rate up, then the Twins might have something.

I can't believe that he has moved so fast.  He just turned 21 and is almost a lock for a midseason promotion to AAA.  He has now pitched almost exactly 100 innings at each of the full season levels and I would consider that to be really fast for someone that wasn't a top 5 draft phenom (Bundy, Taillon, Kershaw).

[Mike Sixel]

Congrats to him. Big believer in challenging guys, and he just wasn't challenged right now.

[spinowner]

 

I can't believe that he has moved so fast.  He just turned 21 and is almost a lock for a midseason promotion to AAA.  He has now pitched almost exactly 100 innings at each of the full season levels and I would consider that to be really fast for someone that wasn't a top 5 draft phenom (Bundy, Taillon, Kershaw).

Whoa, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's see how he handles high A before we talk about AA, much less AAA. To jump 3 levels in one season is rare.

[gunnarthor]

Good for him.  He seems to have a pretty good attitude after dropping in the draft.  Hopefully, he makes a lot of teams regret letting him fall.

[bird]

 

Let me be the one to officially sopen the #FreeStephen campaign.

 

 

By the time the #FreeStephen web site is up and running, the 2015 draft will be over, the new draftees will be signed and assigned, and Stephen will already be riding the buses in the Florida State League. 

[Steven Buhr]

 

I can't believe that he has moved so fast.  He just turned 21 and is almost a lock for a midseason promotion to AAA.  He has now pitched almost exactly 100 innings at each of the full season levels and I would consider that to be really fast for someone that wasn't a top 5 draft phenom (Bundy, Taillon, Kershaw).

 

Whoa, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's see how he handles high A before we talk about AA, much less AAA. To jump 3 levels in one season is rare.

 

Yeah, I'm a little confused over who the "he" is that kab21 is referring to. I'm assuming it's acutally Berrios (since Gonsalves has not turned 21 yet and is certainly not going to reach AAA this season).

 

Nonetheless, the logjam is apparently beginning to loosen up. It's exciting, but I admit I'm a bit nervous about it, as well. Many of these young arms have been phenomenal this season, but there's no assurance they'll all move up a class without a hitch.

[kab21]

 

Whoa, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's see how he handles high A before we talk about AA, much less AAA. To jump 3 levels in one season is rare.

Berrios was listed in the quote.  The Twins are moving almost all of the recent top prospects that are destroying their competition really fast yet some still aren't satisfied.

 

Maybe the running joke can become regardless of well a prospect is doing he can only play in 2 leagues/season.

[bird]

 

Congrats to him. Big believer in challenging guys, and he just wasn't challenged right now.

 

 

The quotes from Gonsalves himself are illuminating about both the Twins and him. It looks like he's been working with his staff at CR and having great success incorporating some things he might be able to get away without at that level. But you're right, he's very probably ready to face more hitters who will force him to continue to do the things he mentioned.