The Twins announced that left-hander Stephen Gonsalves will come up from Triple-A Rochester on Monday to make his major league debut with a start against the White Sox. To make room for Gonsalves, the Twins optioned right-hander Tyler Duffey to Rochester.
Gonsalves, whom the Twins chose in the fourth round of the 2013 draft, has been among the game’s 100 best prospects in the past, including cracking Baseball America’s list after 2016 (No. 99) and ’17 (No. 97). None of BA, MLB.com or FanGraphs currently regard Gonsalves as a top-100 farmhand, though each outlet does place him among the Twins’ 10 best prospects.
In MLB.com’s free scouting report, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo – who rank Gonsalves fifth – compliment the 6-foot-5 hurler’s “combination of pitchability and deception” and “solid-average stuff.” Gonsalves’ repertoire includes a low-90s fastball, a quality changeup and an “average” curveball, per Callis and Mayo, who could see him eventually emerging as a capable mid-rotation starter. BA’s J.J. Cooper (subscription required) is less bullish on the other hand, writing he’s “a back-of-the-rotation starter at best,” in part because of control problems. Indeed, Gonsalves has issued 4.93 walks per nine over 100 1/3 innings in his first extensive Triple-A action this season. At the same time, Gonsalves has given up a mere 65 hits and struck out 8.52 batters per nine en route to a 2.96 ERA.
With the out-of-contention Twins looking toward 2019, Gonsalves may be in position to make a case for a spot in their rotation next year. However, barring trades, the Twins already appear to have at least six serious contenders (or, in some cases, locks) for next season’s staff in Kyle Gibson, Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, Fernando Romero, Adalberto Mejia and Michael Pineda. Ervin Santana could also return to the club in 2019, but it’s uncertain whether Minnesota will pick up the soon-to-be 36-year-old’s $14MM option in light of his injury and performance issues this season.
Sounds like he is effectively wild.
He’ll be a great pitcher. I predict he’ll pitch well in his first start.
He’s pitching against the White Sox. Of course he’ll do well
Pretty ugly debut. 1-1/3 IP, 4 R, all earned.
See Sean newcomb for how well that works in the long run
is this a bad thing or a good thing?
Is there any difference from recall and promote?
I would imagine that recall would be for a player who has been up and down from the minors and the big league level and promotion would for players making their big league debut. But this article says recall and to make his debut.
I used recall here because he’s already on the 40-man roster. I’d have gone with promote otherwise.
Thank you, that makes sense.
Recall would still imply he’s been called on before. Since this is first call to the majors, it would still be proper to use call or promote. “Re” as prefix implies a return or reverse. Even both those words are example of it.
Just because the Twins jump off a bridge doesn’t mean you have to too.
I think promote would have been the better choice, since hes making his first major league experience. it’s not like he was up, got sent down, and now it’s getting recalled to the majors again
The Twins also used recall in their official announcement, for what it’s worth.
you win this time sir
Technically, he was called up during the offseason. That’s how he was added to the 40-man roster.
the 40 man roster isn’t the 25 man (big league) roster though
There isn’t a 25 man roster in the offseason. That’s the 25 guys you don’t option to the minors at the end of spring training.
Well that went horribly.