Article: Twins Minor League Report (4/23): Gonsalves Gon' Save Us

[Dantes929]

 

I hate the plunking. It's immature. The other team got a hit by bunting.....that's called smart, not rude. 

If it is a bunt in the 9th of a perfect game and your team is down by more than 4 that might be considered rude.   If it is the 9th inning of a perfect game and you are down by 3 or less and you think bunting is the best way to get on base but you don't do it out of respect for the other team's pitcher you should be fined and traded in that order.  Just my opinion.

[bird]

 

The Kernels have been a middle of the pack offensive team in the MWL, so far. A little streaky. They have beaten up on some teams and then been real silent against others.

 

In additio to the guys you mentioned, I've liked what I've seen at the plate from the two 1Bs, Trey Vavra and Tyler Kuresa, as well as Tanner English. It's still early, though. With their pitching, they don't have to score a ton of runs to win.

 

Also, going back to comments about the Miracle, just to be fair, keep in mind that a couple of those "relief pitchers drafted recently with top picks" are already up in Chattanooga. I'll also be surprised (and disappointed) if Kanzler, Garver and a couple other hitters don't start to figure things out soon. A lot of slow starts on that team, though, I grant.

 

Regarding the comments on Gonsalves, I saw observations/questions that refer to him as a "great kid" and someone "with a chip on his shoulder." I would opine that both are true. Throw in that lefty 93 mph fastball with movement and there's really not much you wouldn't like in a 20 year old.

 

 

It tells a lot about how uncertain these prospects are until they get a season or two under their belts of full-season play. Of the players you just mentioned, any one of whom could turn out to be a real player.  Or more likely, not:

 

English: three rankers out of 19 gave him a rank at all. #33 by both Gleeman and Twinkietown, #35 by Shane Wahl.

 

Kuresa: two of the 19 rankers: #38 by thrylos and #45 by Shane

 

Vavra: #59 by Shane

 

The highest rankings any of the Cedar Rapids position players have gotten:

 

Gordon #3

JJ Fernandez #19

Murphy #25

Larson #28

Navarreto #29

English #33 

Kuresa #38

Granite #57 

Vavra #59

[Steven Buhr]

Trying to lay out the possibilities for success for the Kernels this season, I've drawn comparisons to the 2013 Quad Cities River Bandits. They had a stud SS and a bunch of contributors on offense, but not many guys you would drive too far just to see play ball. The 2nd half of the season, though, they had some awfully strong pitching. They breezed through the playoffs to win the MWL title.

 

I could see CR having a similar team the 1st half of this season and it's impossible to predict what the roster will look like the 2nd half.

 

None of this, of course, has much to do with what kind of potential the individual position players have to become MLBers. I suspect that the Twins are counting on that class a couple of years older to provide the core of their big league team for several years, and would only need a handful of guys from the 2013-14 draft classes to pan out. If more do, terrific.

[diehardtwinsfan]

The Kernels have been a middle of the pack offensive team in the MWL, so far. A little streaky. They have beaten up on some teams and then been real silent against others.

 

In additio to the guys you mentioned, I've liked what I've seen at the plate from the two 1Bs, Trey Vavra and Tyler Kuresa, as well as Tanner English. It's still early, though. With their pitching, they don't have to score a ton of runs to win.

 

Also, going back to comments about the Miracle, just to be fair, keep in mind that a couple of those "relief pitchers drafted recently with top picks" are already up in Chattanooga. I'll also be surprised (and disappointed) if Kanzler, Garver and a couple other hitters don't start to figure things out soon. A lot of slow starts on that team, though, I grant.

 

Regarding the comments on Gonsalves, I saw observations/questions that refer to him as a "great kid" and someone "with a chip on his shoulder." I would opine that both are true. Throw in that lefty 93 mph fastball with movement and there's really not much you wouldn't like in a 20 year old.

I wonder what Keith Law will say about him if he keeps this up

[jokin]

 

Thank you for that important correction. I was wrong when I said the Kernels were 5th out of 16 teams in OPS. This morning they're actually tied for 6th, .003 percentage points behind the 5th place team. My bad.

 

 

 

 

 

The .659 OPS and 7th place in the MWL is accurate, and obviously, not a good number. Among all 30 Class A teams in two leagues, the Twins OPS ranks 17th.

 

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=l_tba&lid=118

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=l_tba&lid=116

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In each of our last few drafts, there has been a consistent balance of pitching and position draftees, so the lack of elite offensive talent can't simply be traced to the emphasis on drafting those hard-throwing relievers.

 

The fact is, there hasn't been "a consistent balance" in the top rounds-   the Twins have recognized a deficiency in their pitching/catching depth, and have emphasized gathering more quality arms than bats over the last 3 drafts, and they have particularly been trying to find inefficiencies in hard-throwing college RPs. 

 

2014-  Pitchers-  9 of the first 13

2013-  Pitchers-  12 of first 19 (+ 3 Catchers = 15/19)

2012-  Pitchers-  13 of first 18 (+ 1 Catcher = 14/18)

 

Don't know why you choose to turn this into a debunking contest, since we are essentially in agreement.  The fact remains, my first premise is still accurate, many more pitchers/catchers in the early rounds, which means there is left a big offensive hole in the Ft Myers class, and a lesser, but still significant one at Cedar Rapids.  

 

 

The best hope for current prospect offensive potential largely lies in Chattanooga- if the current crop there would continue to disappoint at their current level of futility- the Twins would obviously need to look further for more offensive production down the road; they will likely need to wisely develop and deal from the pitching prospect talent surplus- if there ends up being one.

 

Edited April 24, 2015 by jokin

[bird]

The question of whether the Twins changed their draft approach and thereby created a hitting shortage in the low minors this year is a good one. But the thing is, the draft balance didn't change in 2014, which is the year most of the CR roster was drafted. In fact 10 of the first 20 draftees were hitters that year, including Gordon, Murphy, English, Kuresa, White, and Kelly on that CR team. The Twins have consistently drafted more pitchers than hitters in the early rounds. There just doesn't appear to be a correllation between the draft approach and the offensive production. I think the two main factors are international talent and chance, or essentially the quality of that year's draft. Here's the breakdown for 5 years in terms of pitcher/hitter ratio of the first 20 rounds:

 

2010:  13/7

2011:  14/6

2012:  14/6

2013:  12/8

2014:  10/10 (this was the year the Twins loaded up on all those relievers and supposedly created this black hole)

 

 My theory is that hitting talent just hasn't been as impressive in general. BTW, the success rate with these early pitching picks has been decent, all things considered, so it appears to have been a good idea to emphasize pitching. 

 

[jokin]

 

 

l. BTW, the success rate with these early pitching picks has been decent, all things considered, so it appears to have been a good idea to emphasize pitching. 

 

Is there anyone arguing that there wasn't a need to address the pitching issue?

 

Cause and effect still happens, though.

Edited April 24, 2015 by jokin