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.