Article: Twins Minor League Report (9/4): Pitching, Pitching And More Pitching

[Seth Stohs]

Pitching wins, right? Well, on a night when Mike Pelfrey got rocked yet again, all four Twins minor league starters posted quality starts. A couple of strong candidates for minor league starting pitcher of the year did what they’ve done all year. And there were some solid hitting performances too.Check out everything that happened in the Twins farm system on Friday.

 

RED WINGS REPORT

Rochester 2, Pawtucket 1

Box Score

 

Pat Dean made the final start of his remarkable 2015 season. Dean improved to 12-11 with a 2.82 ERA after completing his fifth game of the year. In his nine innings, he gave up one run on five hits. He walked none and struck out one. As you would guess, he needed just 97 pitches and 72 of them were strikes.

 

Allan de San Miguel sat on the Rochester DL for most of the whole year. He was added to the roster on Tuesday. In this game, he went 2-3 with his first double. Oswaldo Arcia added his 13^th double.

 

CHATTANOOGA CHATTER

Chattanooga 8, Jackson 2

Box Score

 

The Lookouts had a terrific night as they prepare for the Southern League playoffs. They got a strong start from David Hulbut. The southpaw went the first seven innings. He gave up two runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out three. Alex Wimmers and Nick Burdi both struck out two in perfect innings.

 

Nearly everyone contributed to the offensive output. Shannon Wilkerson went 3-5 and stole his 10^th base. Stuart Turner was 3-4. Niko Goodrum went 2-4 with a walk. Dalton Hicks and Heiker Meneses each had two hits. Adam Brett Walker hit his 31^st double. Max Kepler was 0-2, but he walked three times.

 

 

MIRACLE MATTERS

Ft. Myers 5, Charlotte 1

Box Score

 

Stephen Gonsalves’s final start of the season was terrific. He improved to 7-2 with a 2.61 ERA with the Miracle with the win. The lefty went the first six innings. He gave up one run on two hits. He struck out five without issuing a walk. Matt Summers earned his first save with three shutout innings. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out two.

 

Bryan Haar led the offense with a 3-4 game. Ryan Walker went 2-4 with a walk, his sixth double and his ninth stolen base. Logan Wade hit his 22^nd double. Mitch Garver was 1-3 with a walk and his 24^th double. Tanner Vavra went 1-2 with two walks.

 

KERNELS NUGGETS

Cedar Rapids 5, Wisconsin 4

Box Score

 

The Kernels gave up the lead in the second half of this game, but they were able to come back and take the lead and secure another win over Wisconsin. Sam Gibbons started. He went six innings and gave up two runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out four. John Curtiss came on and gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in one inning. Zach Tillery threw a scoreless eighth and Nick Anderson recorded his third save with a scoreless ninth.

 

TJ White again led the way. He went 2-3 with his 21^st double. LaMonte Wade went 2-4.

 

 

TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY

 

Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Pat Dean, Rochester Red Wings

Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Ryan Walker, Ft. Myers Miracle

 

 

SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS

 

Rochester @ Lehigh Valley (5:35 CST) – RHP JO Berrios

Jackson @ Chattanooga (6:15) – RHP Greg Peavey

Ft. Myers @ Charlotte (5:00 CST) – TBD vs Chih-Wei Hu

Clinton @ Cedar Rapids (6:35 CST) – RHP Keaton Steele

 

 

Feel free to leave any questions or comments below

 

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[old nurse]

Bring up Dean

[Squirrel]

Now why couldn't I have seen that Gonsalves instead of the one I saw last Saturday? Good for him, though. Glad he ended on a high note.

[Teddy]

Seeing what Stephen Gonsalves has done this year in his two stops in A-ball, I'd love to see him bumped to Chattanooga next season, but I doubt it'll happen. More likely, the organization will want to see more consistency out of him over the first half next year before a mid-year promotion to AA.  Is there any reason to think that he's ready to make the move at the beginning of the season?

[mikelink45]

Pelfrey has become a three inning relief pitcher only he does his three innings at the beginning of the game.  Wouldn't Dean and Berrios look good in the rotation - a six person rotation would be fine for the team and saving the arms and put Pelfrey in the bullpen where 2 innings would be good?

[roger]

What do you think, Seth,

 

Does Dean get added to the 40-man in November?  Expect he will be gone if they don't, don't you?

[stringer bell]

Is Dean another Anthony Albers or Logan Darnell? I know he's not a hard thrower, but he was very successful at the highest level of the minors.

 

Or is he another Tommy Milone, a lefty without a big fastball that knows how to pitch. On that point, can a rotation afford to have a Milone and another "soft tossing lefty"?

[Seth Stohs]

 

What do you think, Seth,

 

Does Dean get added to the 40-man in November?  Expect he will be gone if they don't, don't you?

 

He's definitely made big strides this season. Still doesn't throw real hard, so I don't think he'd be taken. He's a 40-42 man on the 40 man roster, probably. He's not a minor league free agent for another year, so he's maybe 50/50.

[DocBauer]

I believe Berrios is special. I'm not going to declare him an ACE or future HOFer yet, but there is something special about the young man. I felt when the Twins drafted Gonsalves they may have gotten one of the real steals in the draft that year. While it may seem strange at first to attempt to compare the two of them...RH vs LH and 6' (maybe) vs a listed 6' 5"...there are some correlations that are at least interesting to consider.

 

Both are 21, Berrios about 6 weeks older, both are coming off big years at two different levels...though Berrios was a full step higher...but Berrios has also been in professional ball, and the Twins system, a year longer. Berrios' age 20 season, last year in '14 at A+ and AA, is probably the closest comp you could make. No matter how you slice it, Berrios has advanced further, faster, than Gonsalves. But again, there is the advantage of the extra professional season. And for whatever reason, Gonsalves was held back in 2014 in EST. but both young men have some tremendous milb numbers, both are very young, and both have at least one big year of split level results to reflect on, if not compare.

 

The whole point being...WOW. Go back and take a look. You'll be glad you did! The one thing I'd question and be interested in knowing is whether the taller Gonsalves is really his listed weight of 190lbs. If accurate, you'd have to expect another 15-20lbs of bulk and muscle yet to come wouldn't you? That could lead to even more endurance and velocity out of Gonsalves.

[Seth Stohs]

I'd say Gonsalves is 190-200. He's got room to grow. He's immensely talented and very smart.