Stewart and Gonsalves

[Clyde123]

Interesting to go back and watch the the Stewart and Gonsalves introductory press conference (link below) and, after listening to Gonsalves say he hopes to pass a few first rounders up, think about where the two are today. Has Gonsalves passed Stewart up?  Stewart will be on the mound tonight following up Gonsalves who threw five innings of no-hit ball last night.  I wonder if there is any sort of competition there.  As a Twins fan, of course, I hope they turm out both to be quality major leaguers.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7dJ-wkGXFQ

[Badsmerf]

Stewart's post all star break has been pretty encouraging. Looking at his month to month, he is making clear progress. His gb/fb ratio is also extremely good. Once he start striking some more guys out (which he has lately) everyone will be back on the wagon. Again, the Twins knew when they drafted him that he might take some time to develop.

 

Gonsalves is having a nice season. I don't think he leaps over Stewart yet, but he is right on his heals. Depending on how they finish the last month will be the deciding factor on where I would rank the two going into next year.

[Clyde123]

Just reading the recap, it looks like 2 hit batters, 4 wild pitches, and some ground ball singles did Stewart in last night before a couple of hard hit balls,  In all, 7 earned over 5.1 innings.  Going to be fun watching these two down the stretch.  Hopefully, the competition brings the best out of each.

[nicksaviking]

Most sinkerballers don't end up striking many batters out. They also don't usually have long careers. Give up the pitch, use the slider and the plus velocity to get batters out. Gibson too.

[Badsmerf]

Whatever their approach is with Stewart, it's getting difficult to support. The kid has the stuff, just isn't clicking yet.

 

Has he always been a sinkerball pitcher? I thought he profiled as a power pitcher? When did this happen? How many questions can I ask in one paragraph that nobody here has an answer to?

 

Kick it into high gear kohl. You don't have many starts left, or many excuses left.

[gopherman23]

At this point I would put Gonsalves ahead of Stewart in my rankings. Gonsalves was a 1/2 round talent who fell do to character concerns. Both are close to the same age and Stephen has severely outperformed Kohl to this point. Kohl has been dissapointing so far in relation to where he was picked.

[twinssouth]

I was getting nervous yesterday thinking 1 of them will be traded by our infamous FO for a relief pitcher. I have since chilled out. I think Stewart has highest upside but Gonsalves, a 6'5" lefty that's still getting his man muscles, boy it's close.

[diehardtwinsfan]

yeah, I think we tend to forget that Stewart didn't play much baseball at all in high school and is a bit more raw than the average prospect.  He was drafted that high b/c of his tools.  Scouts thought he could have 4 plus pitches when it's all done.  I don't have a problem with him having a sinker if he can couple it with one or two out pitches to go with it.  That's a Brandon Webb type ace right there if he figures it out.  I'll take that any day.  We also forget that he's 20 years old holding his own in A+.  I agree his development has been disappointing in that we wanted him to simply dominate, but I think that most of us don't quite have the appreciation of the amount of development that has to be done in the minor leagues.  If it was easy, I doubt there would be so many different development leagues.

 

As for Gonsalves, he was considered first round talent that fell due to character concerns and teams not really following up with him on what he'd sign for.  The Twins did this quite well.  I was excited about the pick when he was drafted and really have to tip my cap to the Twins staff for getting him in house.  Given his size, I really do think he could be an ace, and he's developing like one so far.  His ranking compared to Stewart really comes down to ceiling vs. results.  I think Stewart has the higher ceiling, but Gonsalves to date has gotten the job done quite well.  Oh, and he's a lefty, that's always nice.  It will be interesting to see what guys like Law say about Gonsalves this offseason.  I know he was one of his biggest detractors, but I think Gonsalves is going to sneak on to the low end of a lot of top 100 lists this offseason. 

[Bob Sacamento]

 

yeah, I think we tend to forget that Stewart didn't play much baseball at all in high school and is a bit more raw than the average prospect.  He was drafted that high b/c of his tools.  Scouts thought he could have 4 plus pitches when it's all done.  I don't have a problem with him having a sinker if he can couple it with one or two out pitches to go with it.  That's a Brandon Webb type ace right there if he figures it out.  I'll take that any day.  We also forget that he's 20 years old holding his own in A+.  I agree his development has been disappointing in that we wanted him to simply dominate, but I think that most of us don't quite have the appreciation of the amount of development that has to be done in the minor leagues.  If it was easy, I doubt there would be so many different development leagues.

 

 

Ya don't forget Kohl was a football first guy and was slated to be Johnny Manziel's backup at Texas A&M before the money talked to him in baseball and was drafted as high due to his "high ceiling" and tools.  He started working on the sinker more often after the 2013 season, to the point now it appears he's throwing it as often if not more than his power slider that used to be his strikeout pitch.  For his age and level, his development is apt just not were many had wish he projected when the team took him so high.

 

 

 

As for Gonsalves, he was considered first round talent that fell due to character concerns and teams not really following up with him on what he'd sign for.  The Twins did this quite well.  I was excited about the pick when he was drafted and really have to tip my cap to the Twins staff for getting him in house.  Given his size, I really do think he could be an ace, and he's developing like one so far.  His ranking compared to Stewart really comes down to ceiling vs. results.  I think Stewart has the higher ceiling, but Gonsalves to date has gotten the job done quite well.  Oh, and he's a lefty, that's always nice.  It will be interesting to see what guys like Law say about Gonsalves this offseason.  I know he was one of his biggest detractors, but I think Gonsalves is going to sneak on to the low end of a lot of top 100 lists this offseason.

Yeah the Twins gave Gonsalves 2nd round money (700K, slot was 480K).  Completely forgot about the character issue which stems from being present when HS teammates smoked marijuana after a tourney and lying about it to protect his friend.  You want character issues that's much more a Kohl Stewart issue than Gonsalves, Stephen has been nothing but nice and outgoing with the fans with a great work ethic.  Gonsalves always gets a plus for being a lefty and it's looking like he can stay in the rotation.  He's also quite the surfer he was happy to be in Ft. Myers for the possibility to surf but complained about not the best waves here.