The Twins made a number of notable moves Monday. One made official what was already known, some were expected and none was truly startling.
The biggest news involved the starting rotation.
The Twins declined their option on Martin Perez, making the veteran lefty a free agent. I thought they might opt to keep him around as an innings eater at the back of the rotation, but they will go in a different direction.
They made a qualifying offer to Jake Odorizzi but not to Kyle Gibson or Michael Pineda. This presents a significant obstacle to Odorizzi on the free-agent market. I rather suspect he'll wind up taking the QO, which is a one-year deal for something around $17.8 million, and know that he'll be unrestricted after the 2020 season.
If he does take the offer, that's two rotation slots filled, three to go. He has until next Monday to decide.
Odorizzi is an effective but limited starter. He's not an innings-eating horse. In 2019, as an all-star having his best season to date, he didn't reach the 162 innings required to qualify for the ERA title. Perez, while far less effective, threw more innings. So I was mildly surprised that the front office made the QO.
It's not surprising that Gibson and Pineda didn't get QOs. Gibson's health issues and Pineda's lingering suspension were good reasons not to go there. I can imagine the Twins bringing one of them back, but not both.
Also on the pitching line, the Twins parted ways with Kohl Stewart and Stephen Gonsalves, a pair of prominent draft picks who never quite forced their way into the Twins plans. They were taken out of high school in 2013, Stewart in the first round (fourth overall) and Gonsalves in the fourth, but they've been leapfrogged by other prospects.
Gonsalves, who had injury issues and seldom pitched in 2019, was claimed off waivers by the New York Mets, and Stewart opted for free agency after the Twins outrighted him.
The Twins also officially exercised their 2020 option on Nelson Cruz. One can debate the wisdom of any of the other moves and non-moves of Monday, but not this one.
Showing posts with label Stephen Gonsalves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stephen Gonsalves. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Earl Weaver and the opener
The Twins are to deploy Gabriel Moya as the opener again today -- he had that duty on Monday as well -- with Stephen Gonsalves apparently slated for the primary pitcher role.
This new-school tactic clearly does not sit well with at least two prominent Twin Cities media voices, Bert Blyleven and Patrick Reusse. Their disdain for the opener strikes me as a feature, not a bug.
And it also seems to me misplaced, given that their stated concern is for the future of what we know as starting pitching. I think this approach fits well with the development of true starters.
Gonsalves has put up ugly numbers in his first five major league appearances -- 9.39 ERA in four starts and one "primary" outing with 17 walks in 15.1 innings.
His big league struggles come after a stellar season in Triple A, where he made Baseball America's Triple A full-season all-star team. The lefty has the ability to get major league hitters out; he just hasn't done it yet.
Using Gonsalves -- and, for that matter, Kohl Stewart -- as primaries rather than as true starters calls to mind one of Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver's principles: The place for a rookie pitcher is long relief.
Weaver seldom -- if ever -- put a call-up straight into the Baltimore rotation. They had to earn their chance to start with some success in longer relief outings. But true long relief outings are passe today; two innings of work out of the bullpen is generally seen as a long stint. That's not what Weaver was doing with Mike Flanagan in 1976 or Dennis Martinez and Scott McGregor in 1977.
The opener, in a sense, formalizes Weaver's approach. Stewart and Gonsalves are getting their innings and their opportunity to learn how their stuff plays at this higher level. They're just not facing the first batter of the game.
This new-school tactic clearly does not sit well with at least two prominent Twin Cities media voices, Bert Blyleven and Patrick Reusse. Their disdain for the opener strikes me as a feature, not a bug.
And it also seems to me misplaced, given that their stated concern is for the future of what we know as starting pitching. I think this approach fits well with the development of true starters.
Gonsalves has put up ugly numbers in his first five major league appearances -- 9.39 ERA in four starts and one "primary" outing with 17 walks in 15.1 innings.
His big league struggles come after a stellar season in Triple A, where he made Baseball America's Triple A full-season all-star team. The lefty has the ability to get major league hitters out; he just hasn't done it yet.
Using Gonsalves -- and, for that matter, Kohl Stewart -- as primaries rather than as true starters calls to mind one of Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver's principles: The place for a rookie pitcher is long relief.
Weaver seldom -- if ever -- put a call-up straight into the Baltimore rotation. They had to earn their chance to start with some success in longer relief outings. But true long relief outings are passe today; two innings of work out of the bullpen is generally seen as a long stint. That's not what Weaver was doing with Mike Flanagan in 1976 or Dennis Martinez and Scott McGregor in 1977.
The opener, in a sense, formalizes Weaver's approach. Stewart and Gonsalves are getting their innings and their opportunity to learn how their stuff plays at this higher level. They're just not facing the first batter of the game.
Monday, August 20, 2018
Given the finger ...
The Twins returned Ervin Santana to the disabled list during the weekend. The post-surgical middle finger clearly wasn't up to the demands of major league pitching.
Presumably this is it for Santana as a Twin. He gave the Twins two solid seasons, one useless one, and one solid half-season marred by a steroid suspension.
I'm not down on him for this useless one. He did what he could with the injury last year and did what he could with the digit in rehab this year. He said something a couple of starts ago about giving the team 100 percent of what he had, and I accept that.
No, it's 2015 that still sticks in my craw. Who knows what that team would have accomplished had he not missed half the season with a self-inflicted banishment? The Twins were in the wild-card hunt right up to the end.
---
Two pitching moves over the weekend: Stephen Gonsalves comes up to replace Santana in the rotation -- he starts tonight against the White Sox -- and the Twins sub in Alan Busenitz for Tyler Duffey.
Gonsalves is an intriguing prospect. The fastball velocity is not overwhelming, the breaking ball is apparently mediocre, and the control record is not good. But he is absurdly difficult to hit. He has a good changeup, and the fastball is said to have a high spin rate, which apparently is an objective measurement that aligns with the old-school description of "sneaky fast."
He was taken in the same draft as Kohl Stewart but three rounds later and was generally moved up the ladder more slowly. But he was better than Stewart on every level.
I'm glad to see him up here now. I'm considerably more optimistic about Gonsalves's chances to be a useful major league starter than I am about Stewart.
As for the bullpen move: The Monday print column examines the current state of experimentation in the Twins bullpen. The trades of Fernando Rodney, Ryan Pressly and Zach Duke opened three significant roles in the relief corps, and with the exception of lefty specialist -- Taylor Rogers assumes that role and Gabriel Moya slides into Rogers' old slot -- Paul Molitor is holding open auditions.
It's a rather long column as these things go, and I didn't bother mentioning either Busenitz or Duffey. Thye're both clearly behind Trevor May, Trevor Hildenberger and Matt Magill, and probably, absurd as it sounds, behind Oliver Drake as well.
Which doesn't mean either can't pitch their way into the Twins plans. It just means they're behind in the competition.
Presumably this is it for Santana as a Twin. He gave the Twins two solid seasons, one useless one, and one solid half-season marred by a steroid suspension.
I'm not down on him for this useless one. He did what he could with the injury last year and did what he could with the digit in rehab this year. He said something a couple of starts ago about giving the team 100 percent of what he had, and I accept that.
No, it's 2015 that still sticks in my craw. Who knows what that team would have accomplished had he not missed half the season with a self-inflicted banishment? The Twins were in the wild-card hunt right up to the end.
---
Two pitching moves over the weekend: Stephen Gonsalves comes up to replace Santana in the rotation -- he starts tonight against the White Sox -- and the Twins sub in Alan Busenitz for Tyler Duffey.
Gonsalves is an intriguing prospect. The fastball velocity is not overwhelming, the breaking ball is apparently mediocre, and the control record is not good. But he is absurdly difficult to hit. He has a good changeup, and the fastball is said to have a high spin rate, which apparently is an objective measurement that aligns with the old-school description of "sneaky fast."
He was taken in the same draft as Kohl Stewart but three rounds later and was generally moved up the ladder more slowly. But he was better than Stewart on every level.
I'm glad to see him up here now. I'm considerably more optimistic about Gonsalves's chances to be a useful major league starter than I am about Stewart.
As for the bullpen move: The Monday print column examines the current state of experimentation in the Twins bullpen. The trades of Fernando Rodney, Ryan Pressly and Zach Duke opened three significant roles in the relief corps, and with the exception of lefty specialist -- Taylor Rogers assumes that role and Gabriel Moya slides into Rogers' old slot -- Paul Molitor is holding open auditions.
It's a rather long column as these things go, and I didn't bother mentioning either Busenitz or Duffey. Thye're both clearly behind Trevor May, Trevor Hildenberger and Matt Magill, and probably, absurd as it sounds, behind Oliver Drake as well.
Which doesn't mean either can't pitch their way into the Twins plans. It just means they're behind in the competition.
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Prospecting
The Futures Game rosters came out Friday. The Twins, who have frequently had just one player named to the game, got the full complement of two this time around: outfielder Alex Kirilloff to the U.S. team, left-handed pitcher Lewis Thorpe to the World team.
Kirilloff's big season in A ball after missing 2017 to Tommy John surgery has gotten more attention than the progress shown by Thorpe, who is regaining the prospect luster lost during two seasons on the sidelines. The Aussie (who is on the 40-man roster) is posting his career best walk/strikeout ratio in Double A and has already faced a career high in hitters.
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The issue of Baseball America that showed up in my mail box Friday contains BA's mid-season top 100 prospects list. The Twins have four names on the list:
SS Royce Lewis, No. 11
Kirilloff, No. 38
RHP Brustar Gratrol, No. 88
SS Nick Gordon, No. 96
Notable for his absence: Stephen Gonsalves. who has been near the end of the springtime Top 100's in 2017 and '18 (No. 97 this spring). That is presumably what waking six men per nine innings in Triple A will do for you. (Fernando Romero, while back in Triple A at the moment, worked more than 50 innings in his 10 starts and has "graduated" from prospect status.)
---
Roster note: The Twins activated Taylor Motter from the concussion DL and optioned him to Double A Chattanooga. So the "bench" now has Robbie Grossman, Willians Astudillo, Ehrie Adrianza and Bobby Wilson.
Kirilloff's big season in A ball after missing 2017 to Tommy John surgery has gotten more attention than the progress shown by Thorpe, who is regaining the prospect luster lost during two seasons on the sidelines. The Aussie (who is on the 40-man roster) is posting his career best walk/strikeout ratio in Double A and has already faced a career high in hitters.
---
The issue of Baseball America that showed up in my mail box Friday contains BA's mid-season top 100 prospects list. The Twins have four names on the list:
SS Royce Lewis, No. 11
Kirilloff, No. 38
RHP Brustar Gratrol, No. 88
SS Nick Gordon, No. 96
Notable for his absence: Stephen Gonsalves. who has been near the end of the springtime Top 100's in 2017 and '18 (No. 97 this spring). That is presumably what waking six men per nine innings in Triple A will do for you. (Fernando Romero, while back in Triple A at the moment, worked more than 50 innings in his 10 starts and has "graduated" from prospect status.)
---
Roster note: The Twins activated Taylor Motter from the concussion DL and optioned him to Double A Chattanooga. So the "bench" now has Robbie Grossman, Willians Astudillo, Ehrie Adrianza and Bobby Wilson.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
The first cuts
The Twins on Monday shipped out half a pitching staff -- all them prospects who had no realistic chance at theopening day roster.
Optioned out: Felix Jose, Mason Melotakis, Fernando Romero and Randy Rosario.
Reassigned to minor league camp: Stephen Gonsalves and Aaron Slegers.
The difference being that the first four are on the 40-man roster, and the latter two were non-roster invitees.
Before the news of Trevor May's elbow injury led me to change plans, I had figured to write the Monday print column (which didn't see print on Monday after all) on "the pitchers who aren't there" -- two starting pitcher prospects who were taken above Gonsalves and Slegers in the same draft but clearly at this point aren't regarded well enough to merit big league camp time.
Kohl Stewart was the fourth overall pick in the 2013 draft. Gonsalves -- like Stewart a high schooler, unlike Stewart a left-hander -- went in the fourth round. He almost certainly would have gone higher but for a suspension that wiped out his senior season. Stewart's ERAs last year (split between High A and Double A) aren't bad, but his strikeout rates have been unimpressive, and particularly so in his 16 starts for Chattanooga.
Ryan Eades was the Twins' second round pick in 2013, a right hander out of LSU. Slegers, another college righty (Indiana) went in the fifth round. Last year Eades racked up a 4.61 ERA in Chattanooga. Slegers, at the same level, had a 3.41 ERA and more than 30 more innings.
Four pitchers taken in the first five rounds that year by the Twins, and the latter pair are looking better than the first two.
Optioned out: Felix Jose, Mason Melotakis, Fernando Romero and Randy Rosario.
Reassigned to minor league camp: Stephen Gonsalves and Aaron Slegers.
The difference being that the first four are on the 40-man roster, and the latter two were non-roster invitees.
Before the news of Trevor May's elbow injury led me to change plans, I had figured to write the Monday print column (which didn't see print on Monday after all) on "the pitchers who aren't there" -- two starting pitcher prospects who were taken above Gonsalves and Slegers in the same draft but clearly at this point aren't regarded well enough to merit big league camp time.
Kohl Stewart was the fourth overall pick in the 2013 draft. Gonsalves -- like Stewart a high schooler, unlike Stewart a left-hander -- went in the fourth round. He almost certainly would have gone higher but for a suspension that wiped out his senior season. Stewart's ERAs last year (split between High A and Double A) aren't bad, but his strikeout rates have been unimpressive, and particularly so in his 16 starts for Chattanooga.
Ryan Eades was the Twins' second round pick in 2013, a right hander out of LSU. Slegers, another college righty (Indiana) went in the fifth round. Last year Eades racked up a 4.61 ERA in Chattanooga. Slegers, at the same level, had a 3.41 ERA and more than 30 more innings.
Four pitchers taken in the first five rounds that year by the Twins, and the latter pair are looking better than the first two.
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Talking prospects
The Twins top three prospects as listed by Baseball America -- Byron Buxton, Jose Berrios and Max Kepler -- all graduated this year. So did Nos. 6 and 7 (Jorge Polanco and Byung Ho Park). So the prospect lists this offseason will look drastically different.
The dead-tree edition of BA that arrived in my mailbox over the weekend gives us a few hints of who might be pushing their way to the top of the Twins list.
Stephen Gonsalves, a left-handed pitcher who was No. 9 on the preseason list, was one of five starting pitchers named to BA's minor league all star team. Gonsalves split 2016 between High A Fort Myers and Double A Chattanooga and combined went 13-5, 2.06 with 155 strikeouts in 140 innings.
Some words of caution on the 6-foot-5 lefty from BA's writeup:
Gonsalves is scheduled to pitch in the Arizona Fall League, and it will be interesting to see how he fares there. My current guess is that he'll open 2017 in Chattanooga again, and if he continues to be too much for Southern League hitters to handle, he'll move up to Triple A by June.
Gonsalves was also named to BA's Double-A all-star team (as was Chih-Wei Hu, the Tawianese righty the Twins traded in 2015 for Kevin Jepsen).
Felix Jorge was named to the High-A team; he went 9-3, 1.55 in Fort Myers, then moved up to Chattanooga and struggled a bit (3-5, 4.12). I saw Jorge last year at Cedar Rapids and wrote about what I saw here. He was No. 24 on BA's preseason Twins list, and I wouldn't expect to see a big jump.
Nobody from the Cedar Rapids club was named to BA's Low-A all-stars. For the Rookie leagues honors, BA tabbed outfielder Alex Kirilloff, last June's first-rounder, who slashed .304/.341/.454 at Elizabethton. He will be in the Twins Top 10, maybe top 5, this winter, and a reason to make a relatively early trip to Iowa next year.
I was mildly disappointed to see that Nick Gordon, who slashed .291/.335/.386 at Fort Myers, didn't get the shortstop nod for High A. BA selected Gleyber Torres, who the Cubs traded to the Yankees in the Alrodis Chapman trade. But Gordon, No. 4 on the Twins preseason list, is likely to top the list this winter. Gordon's slugging percentage doesn't look like much, but the Florida State League depresses power; the league slugging percentage was only .356. Double A for Gordon next year.
Another name to take note of is Fernando Romero, who appears to have had a very good comeback from Tommy John surgery. He racked up 90 innings combined at Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers, with 90 strikeouts and ERAs below 2 at both levels. He's described as having three strikeout pitches. He's at least a level behind Gonsalves, but he might be a better starting prospect. Building his innings is the next project for him.
The dead-tree edition of BA that arrived in my mailbox over the weekend gives us a few hints of who might be pushing their way to the top of the Twins list.
Stephen Gonsalves, a left-handed pitcher who was No. 9 on the preseason list, was one of five starting pitchers named to BA's minor league all star team. Gonsalves split 2016 between High A Fort Myers and Double A Chattanooga and combined went 13-5, 2.06 with 155 strikeouts in 140 innings.
Some words of caution on the 6-foot-5 lefty from BA's writeup:
While scouts are unconvinced that Gonsalves possesses the current fastball command to dominate big league hitters, the 22-year-old lefthander does throw a changeup that improves each season. ... (He) must reduce his walk rate of 3.7 batters per nine innings, but he's clearly doing something right.
Gonsalves is scheduled to pitch in the Arizona Fall League, and it will be interesting to see how he fares there. My current guess is that he'll open 2017 in Chattanooga again, and if he continues to be too much for Southern League hitters to handle, he'll move up to Triple A by June.
Gonsalves was also named to BA's Double-A all-star team (as was Chih-Wei Hu, the Tawianese righty the Twins traded in 2015 for Kevin Jepsen).
Felix Jorge was named to the High-A team; he went 9-3, 1.55 in Fort Myers, then moved up to Chattanooga and struggled a bit (3-5, 4.12). I saw Jorge last year at Cedar Rapids and wrote about what I saw here. He was No. 24 on BA's preseason Twins list, and I wouldn't expect to see a big jump.
Nobody from the Cedar Rapids club was named to BA's Low-A all-stars. For the Rookie leagues honors, BA tabbed outfielder Alex Kirilloff, last June's first-rounder, who slashed .304/.341/.454 at Elizabethton. He will be in the Twins Top 10, maybe top 5, this winter, and a reason to make a relatively early trip to Iowa next year.
I was mildly disappointed to see that Nick Gordon, who slashed .291/.335/.386 at Fort Myers, didn't get the shortstop nod for High A. BA selected Gleyber Torres, who the Cubs traded to the Yankees in the Alrodis Chapman trade. But Gordon, No. 4 on the Twins preseason list, is likely to top the list this winter. Gordon's slugging percentage doesn't look like much, but the Florida State League depresses power; the league slugging percentage was only .356. Double A for Gordon next year.
Another name to take note of is Fernando Romero, who appears to have had a very good comeback from Tommy John surgery. He racked up 90 innings combined at Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers, with 90 strikeouts and ERAs below 2 at both levels. He's described as having three strikeout pitches. He's at least a level behind Gonsalves, but he might be a better starting prospect. Building his innings is the next project for him.
Friday, September 9, 2016
Notes, quotes and comment
Catching up on a few items I ignored while writing about the Cedar Rapids Kernels this week:
* The pitcher to be determined from the Twins for the Arizona Fall League turned out to be Stephen Gonsalves, a left-handed pitcher who has been burning up the system.
I'm a little surprised he's getting the nod, as he's already racked up 140 innings on the season.
Gonsalves turned 22 in July and was the Twins fourth round pick in the 2013 draft. They handled him rather gingerly the first two years in the system, possibly because he didn't pitch his senior year in high school because of a suspension for not reporting a teammate's drug use. He didn't pitch 100 innings in 2013-14 combined.
He also hasn't spent a full season at any level; he's been too good for that. He finished 2016 at Double A Chattanooga, going 8-1, 1.81 and striking out more than one per inning. He walked a few guys too (4.5 per nine), and there's a good case to be made for giving him at least a half season at Triple A next year.
* With Rochester's season over, the Twins recalled Kennys Vargas and Tyler Duffey. They also moved Danny Santana to the 60-day disabled list, which takes him off the 40-man roster, and added infielder James Beresford.
This was a popular move among followers of the minor league system. Beresford is an Australian who has spent a decade toiling in the farm system. Once seen as a skinny shortstop prospect, he's gotten stronger and moved off short. 2016 was actually the worst of his four full seasons at Rochester.
He's never had a slugging percentage that even approaches .400 in the States, and he's no basestealer. He is what is known as an "org guy" -- org for organizational, a reliable piece to fill out the roster of a minor league club making it possible to develop the real prospects. The Twins in recent years kept calling up Doug Bernier; Beresford is basically a younger version of Bernier.
* I mentioned in Thursday's post the brief Sunday start of Cedar Rapids pitcher Eduardo Del Rosario. The reason he was pulled after two innings became clear later that day when he started, and won, the second playoff game for the Kernels. The Kernels swept the best-of-three series.
* The pitcher to be determined from the Twins for the Arizona Fall League turned out to be Stephen Gonsalves, a left-handed pitcher who has been burning up the system.
I'm a little surprised he's getting the nod, as he's already racked up 140 innings on the season.
Gonsalves turned 22 in July and was the Twins fourth round pick in the 2013 draft. They handled him rather gingerly the first two years in the system, possibly because he didn't pitch his senior year in high school because of a suspension for not reporting a teammate's drug use. He didn't pitch 100 innings in 2013-14 combined.
He also hasn't spent a full season at any level; he's been too good for that. He finished 2016 at Double A Chattanooga, going 8-1, 1.81 and striking out more than one per inning. He walked a few guys too (4.5 per nine), and there's a good case to be made for giving him at least a half season at Triple A next year.
* With Rochester's season over, the Twins recalled Kennys Vargas and Tyler Duffey. They also moved Danny Santana to the 60-day disabled list, which takes him off the 40-man roster, and added infielder James Beresford.
This was a popular move among followers of the minor league system. Beresford is an Australian who has spent a decade toiling in the farm system. Once seen as a skinny shortstop prospect, he's gotten stronger and moved off short. 2016 was actually the worst of his four full seasons at Rochester.
He's never had a slugging percentage that even approaches .400 in the States, and he's no basestealer. He is what is known as an "org guy" -- org for organizational, a reliable piece to fill out the roster of a minor league club making it possible to develop the real prospects. The Twins in recent years kept calling up Doug Bernier; Beresford is basically a younger version of Bernier.
* I mentioned in Thursday's post the brief Sunday start of Cedar Rapids pitcher Eduardo Del Rosario. The reason he was pulled after two innings became clear later that day when he started, and won, the second playoff game for the Kernels. The Kernels swept the best-of-three series.
Saturday, January 9, 2016
BA's Top 10 Twins prospects
The dead tree edition of Baseball America arrived in my mailbox Friday with Byron Buxton on the cover and the Top 10 prospects writeups for the AL Central teams inside. No link here because BA will roll the Twins stuff out online sometime next week.
The list:
Buxton, who retained his rookie status for 2016 by two at-bats, was the obvious top choice; he's very likely to be BA's No. 1 overall prospect for the third straight winter when that list comes out in a few weeks. Nor are No. 2 or 3 -- Jose Berrios and Max Kepler -- startling selections. There are plenty of organizations for which either would be the headliner.
The list was compiled for BA by the Pioneer Press beat writer, Mike Berardino, A few comments on his rankings:
Gordon, who spent last year in low A, is above Polanco, who split 2015 between Double A and Triple A, this on the basis that Gordon is expected to stick at shortstop. I like both players, and I agree that Polanco is stretched as a shortstop. His problem right now, as for Berrios and Kepler, is the lack of obvious opportunity on the major league club.
Stewart, the No. 4 overall pick in 2013, the year the Cubs took Kris Bryant with the No. 3 pick, "slid" to No. 7 after seeing his strikeout rate decline in the Florida State League. Key sentence: "The Twins hope he'll start to miss more bats as he learns more about pitch sequencing."
Gonsalves, the Twins fourth-round pick in that draft, has essentially caught Stewart in the rankings. But Berardino figures Stewart will open 2016 in Double A while Gonsalves, who finished 2015 in high A Fort Myers, remains there for a few months.
Jay, college reliever, is likely to start in 2016, probably at Fort Myers. The Miracle figure to have some really interesting left-handed arms in the rotation this spring, with Gonsalves, Jay and Randy Rosario, who was added to the 40-man roster after a strong TJ-recovery season in Cedar Rapids. Of that trio, I assume Jay is both closest to the majors and has the highest ceiling but that Gonsalves is the most likely to be a major league starter.
The list:
- Buxton (CF)
- Jose Berrios (RHP)
- Max Kepler (OF-1B)
- Nick Gordon (SS)
- Tyler Jay (LHP)
- Jorge Polanco (SS-2B)
- Byung Ho Park (1B)
- Kohl Stewart (RHP)
- Stephen Gonsalves (LHP)
- Nick Burdi (RHP)
Buxton, who retained his rookie status for 2016 by two at-bats, was the obvious top choice; he's very likely to be BA's No. 1 overall prospect for the third straight winter when that list comes out in a few weeks. Nor are No. 2 or 3 -- Jose Berrios and Max Kepler -- startling selections. There are plenty of organizations for which either would be the headliner.
The list was compiled for BA by the Pioneer Press beat writer, Mike Berardino, A few comments on his rankings:
Gordon, who spent last year in low A, is above Polanco, who split 2015 between Double A and Triple A, this on the basis that Gordon is expected to stick at shortstop. I like both players, and I agree that Polanco is stretched as a shortstop. His problem right now, as for Berrios and Kepler, is the lack of obvious opportunity on the major league club.
Stewart, the No. 4 overall pick in 2013, the year the Cubs took Kris Bryant with the No. 3 pick, "slid" to No. 7 after seeing his strikeout rate decline in the Florida State League. Key sentence: "The Twins hope he'll start to miss more bats as he learns more about pitch sequencing."
Gonsalves, the Twins fourth-round pick in that draft, has essentially caught Stewart in the rankings. But Berardino figures Stewart will open 2016 in Double A while Gonsalves, who finished 2015 in high A Fort Myers, remains there for a few months.
Jay, college reliever, is likely to start in 2016, probably at Fort Myers. The Miracle figure to have some really interesting left-handed arms in the rotation this spring, with Gonsalves, Jay and Randy Rosario, who was added to the 40-man roster after a strong TJ-recovery season in Cedar Rapids. Of that trio, I assume Jay is both closest to the majors and has the highest ceiling but that Gonsalves is the most likely to be a major league starter.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Signing the high school pitchers
 |
| First-round pick Kohl Stewart talks with veteran Mike Pelfrey in the Target Field outfield during batting practice Wednesday. Stewart signed with Minnesota Wednesday. |
Team physician on amateur P abuse: "Every draft choice we examine has a shoulder or elbow red flag."
 |
| Stephen Gonsalves was suspended for much of his high school season, he says for trying to cover up transgressions by teammates. |
First-round pick Kohl Stewart (No. 4 overall) got $4.5 million, and fourth-rounder Stephen Gonsalves $700,000 — well above the allotted slot for the 110th overall pick, but less than he figured to get earlier this year, when he was viewed as a likely first-round selection.
They are, without a doubt, talented arms. But they're immature arms, and there's a big gap between high school ball and the major leagues. Pitchers get hurt, and talented young pitchers are particularly at risk because it's so easy, and tempting, to overuse them.
On Wednesday Stewart and Gonsalves signed their contracts, shagged balls during batting practice, hung out in the clubhouse. Today they head to Fort Myers, Fla., to begin the long and difficult process of turning their talents into big league skills.
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