Granite, Gonsalves named Twins Minor League Player, Pitcher of 2016

[Seth Stohs]

Congratulations to Zach Granite and Stephen Gonsalves who were named the Twins Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively. 

 

Here's the Press Release:

 

Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN—The Minnesota Twins announced today that outfielder Zach Granite has been named the 2016 Sherry Robertson Award winner as the Twins Minor League Player of the Year and left-handed pitcher Stephen Gonsalves has been named the 2016 Jim Rantz Award winner as the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

 

Granite, 24, spent the entire season at Double-A Chattanooga, hitting .295 (155-for-526) with 18 doubles, eight triples, four home runs, 52 RBI, 86 runs scored and 56 stolen bases in 127 games.  He ranked tied for first in minor league baseball in stolen bases and was most recently named Southern League Postseason All-Star.

The Staten Island, New York native was drafted by the Twins in the 14th round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of Seton Hall University.  In four minor league seasons, he has hit .282 (369-for-1309) with 39 doubles, 20 triples, 109 RBI and 102 stolen bases in 337 games.

 

Gonsalves, 22, began the season at Single-A Ft. Myers, going 5-4 with a 2.33 ERA (65.2 IP, 17 ER), 20 walks and 66 strikeouts.  He was promoted to Double-A Chattanooga in early June and went 8-1 with a 1.82 ERA (74.1 IP, 15 ER), 37 walks and 89 strikeouts.  He earned Southern League Pitcher of the Week in late August, was named to Florida State League Midseason All-Star team and most recently was named one of MLBPipeline.com’s Twins Prospects of the Year.

 

The San Diego, California native was selected by the Twins in the fourth round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of Cathedral Catholic High School. He becomes just the third left-handed pitcher to win the Jim Rantz Award since it was created in 2002, joining Francisco Liriano (2005) and Andrew Albers (2013).

 

The Sherry Robertson Award, named in honor of the Twins first farm director, was established in 1970 to recognize the Twins top minor league performer each season.  Beginning in 2002, the award recognizes the Twins Minor League Player of the Year while an additional award was created to recognize the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year.  This award was named in honor of former Twins Minor League Director and Twins Hall of Famer Jim Rantz.  Past winners of the Sherry Robertson Award include: Butch Wynegar (1974), Kent Hrbek (1981), Gene Larkin (1986), Paul Sorrento (1989), Denny Neagle (1990), Marty Cordova (1992), LaTroy Hawkins (1993 and ’94), Todd Walker (1996), David Ortiz (1997), Doug Mientkiewicz (1998), Michael Cuddyer (2001), Joe Mauer (2003), Jason Kubel (2004), Brian Dozier (2011), Byron Buxton (2013), Kennys Vargas (2014) and Max Kepler (2015), while Jesse Crain (2003), Scott Baker (2004), Francisco Liriano (2005), Matt Garza (2006), Kyle Gibson (2010) and Jose Berrios (2014 and ’15) have won the Jim Rantz Award.

 

Granite and Gonsalves, along with the other Twins 2016 award winners, will be recognized at the 12th Annual Diamond Awards dinner, which will be held on Thursday, January 26, 2017 at Target Field.

[Seth Stohs]

Already looking forward to their speeches at the Diamond Awards.

[Thrylos]

That Twins' minor league pitcher of the year award is cursed.  Everyone who won it the past faltered or had major surgery within a season or two.  Hope that Gonsalves breaks the curse...

 

As far as the hitter of the year goes, I'd love to see anyone who can argue that Granite is a better hitter than Palka with actual data.  Disgrace... 

[Loosey]

 

Already looking forward to their speeches at the Diamond Awards.

Seth, at the beginning of the 2015 season when Granite was tearing it up in Cedar Rapids I asked you if Ben Revere is a good major league comp for Granite and you agreed it was.  Do you still feel that is a good comp for him if he makes it to the majors?  

[Loosey]

 

That Twins' minor league pitcher of the year award is cursed.  Everyone who won it the past faltered or had major surgery within a season or two.  Hope that Gonsalves breaks the curse...

 

As far as the hitter of the year goes, I'd love to see anyone who can argue that Granite is a better hitter than Palka with actual data.  Disgrace... 

PLAYER of the year.  Not HITTER of the year.  

[Thrylos]

 

PLAYER of the year.  Not HITTER of the year.  

 

That's not what the OP said

 

Congratulations to Zach Granite and Stephen Gonsalves who were named the Twins Minor League Hitter and Pitcher of the Year, respectively. 

 

[Loosey]

 

That's not what the OP said

I didn't notice that, but then it says the Sherry Robertson award is Player of the year.  So were both right?  or were both wrong?  Now I'm confused.

[nicksaviking]

 

That Twins' minor league pitcher of the year award is cursed.  Everyone who won it the past faltered or had major surgery within a season or two.  Hope that Gonsalves breaks the curse...

 

As far as the hitter of the year goes, I'd love to see anyone who can argue that Granite is a better hitter than Palka with actual data.  Disgrace... 

 

Disgrace? That sounds pretty hyperbolic.

[Vanimal46]

Congratulations to both players on a great season. Granite especially had a sneaky good, under the radar season. Hope he can keep it up and be considered for the 4th OF opening in Minnesota. 

[clutterheart]

 

 

As far as the hitter of the year goes, I'd love to see anyone who can argue that Granite is a better hitter than Palka with actual data.  Disgrace... 

 

????  Palka?  Really?  With his strikeouts and poor OB% skills?  Everyone likes his power but he has a lot to improve upo.  His  AAA stats are pretty bad. 

54 games:  232 /.296/ .483 18 BB to 86 Strikes Outs - 86!  

 

What data are you looking at?

 

Granite is no potential perennial all star but he had a nice season.  He gets singles, gets on base, works counts and then steals bases.  Thats a skill set that is lacking in the Twins org and in my mind he is as deserving as anyone.  

[Bob Sacamento]

 

Congratulations to both players on a great season. Granite especially had a sneaky good, under the radar season. Hope he can keep it up and be considered for the 4th OF opening in Minnesota. 

Granite reminds me of Sam Fuld's skill set and seems like a role he could fill nicely in the future.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Seth, at the beginning of the 2015 season when Granite was tearing it up in Cedar Rapids I asked you if Ben Revere is a good major league comp for Granite and you agreed it was.  Do you still feel that is a good comp for him if he makes it to the majors?  

 

Yes.  Very similar types of players. 

[Seth Stohs]

 

PLAYER of the year.  Not HITTER of the year.  

 

Good call. Yes, the press release does say "Player of the Year," not "Hitter of the Year." I edited it in my first sentence, and the title was changed by someone as well.

[GCTF]

 

 Zach Granite 

 

Didn't he play with Fred Flintstone for the Boulder City Giants?

[Mike Sixel]

 

That Twins' minor league pitcher of the year award is cursed.  Everyone who won it the past faltered or had major surgery within a season or two.  Hope that Gonsalves breaks the curse...

 

As far as the hitter of the year goes, I'd love to see anyone who can argue that Granite is a better hitter than Palka with actual data.  Disgrace... 

 

Other than defense, baserunning, and other things besides hitting?

 

And "disgrace", really?

[goulik]

If you could translate all the stolen bases into his OPS, you would be seeing more people jumping on the Granite bandwagon.