Twins Minor League Report (6/5): Gonsalves is DEALING

Glad Gonsalves is doing well. Looks like his pitches/inning are taking a bit of a step back. From 88 pitches in seven innings in the start on 5/26 to 95 pitches in six innings last start to 96 pitches in five innings yesterday.

Regardless of the eye-opening stats, you know that's something the front office is going to demand improve prior to any promotion. And rightly so.

I think AAA at some point would be nice for Gonsalves, but yeah, he's got to work on the walks without question.  He was a bit walk heavy in AA when he got promoted last year as well. 

I think AAA at some point would be nice for Gonsalves, but yeah, he's got to work on the walks without question.  He was a bit walk heavy in AA when he got promoted last year as well. 

And from reports, he sounds like he has fairly decent command, which probably means he's a "picker" and trying to be cute on the edges and off the plate.

For some guys this is a bad sign that their stuff won't translate at higher levels against more selective hitters when they have to intentionally work in the zone. Then there's Jose Berrios who says screw that noise, my stuff will play.

Gonsalves is legit, and last night may be further proof of that. It's great when you have a game that you throw 88 pitches in 7 shutout innings, but it's impressive when you don't have your best stuff and you still throw 5 shutout innings. Not that you want that to be the case, but it does speak to Gonsalves's "toughness" that he doesn't let struggles become big innings and such. 

 

But it is something he'll keep working on. That he's full-go in terms of pitch count is great. Now, at least for me, it's about getting some more velocity back and continuing to work on command. 

What is his velocity at?

And is his command now, and in the past been a bit rough? Or has he been one of those pitchers who is intentionally and frequently trying to get swings and misses on pitches out of the zone? Which has always got to be tempting when you know the batters at your level will swing at them.

 

As for command, it's definitely more than just walks. His control so far this season has been very good. But as we saw with Jose Berrios, you can have good control and command in the minors and it needs to transfer to the big leagues... I don't think that it's a big concern, but command is as important as any other piece of a pitcher's repertoire. 

I was just wondering if the command/control issue* was due to being slightly off target or if it's because he's not attacking the zone because he knows AA batters will chase.

*To clarify to those who think I'm being pessimistic, I'm not critiquing him, I'm just curious as to the root provocation of his high(ish) number of pitches. I feel good about Gonsalves and I'm just wondering which aspect of pitching he should be working on. 

As Reed's adopt-a-prospect father on this site, he faced at least 4 batters in his AA debut on June 2nd... He walked 3 and struck out one. 20 pitches, 7 strikes. 

Did you send him to his room for a time-out?

I'm not advocating a call up, I'll lead with that.

But, it doesn't take a whole lot to be one of the best 5 pitchers in the organization right now.

Guys like Hughes and Santiago are not MLB starting pitchers anymore. There are high schoolers out there with better stuff (and that may not even fit the standards of exaggeration).

Mejia is looking good. Berrios is in the rotation for the rest of the year. Santana will likely regress hard, but isn't going anywhere. Outside of that, there, literally, is not another competent arm in the organization at this time (other than the one they have filling the 6th inning role right now - Duffey).

Not sure how you can blame, for example, a season ticket holder who is also contributing hard-earned tax dollars to this perennial loser, for expecting a quality product. There is sound logic in thinking the current top 5 pitchers on a first place club should be in the rotation....no?

I think you're being a bit liberal with the idea that a guy like Gonsalves is right now a top 5 pitcher.  There's a pretty wide gap between a bottom feeder major league pitcher and a top prospect.  Just look at how Berrios struggled last year (far worse I'd add than Santiago and even Gibson are right now)...  think about that, and he had far better results than Gonsalves and a better pedigree. 

That doesn't mean that Gonsalves would be a flop, but that we underestimate just how steep the curve is from the minors to the majors.  I do agree that he needs to work on those walks.  If AA is the right place, so be it, but if he continues to improve, my personal opinion would be get him a bit more challenge in AAA.