Minnesota Twins MiLB Weekly: Gonsalves Due For Promotion

Minnesota Twins top 10 pitching prospect Stephen Gonsalves is due for a promotion.

Stephen Gonsalves has pitched well enough to warrant the Minnesota Twins to promote him to double-A Chattanooga.

Last year Gonsalves pitched just 55 innings, making nine starts with single-A Cedar Rapids before moving up to single-A+ Fort Myers. Currently, Gonsalves sits at 42 2-3 innings in seven starts with Fort Myers. In terms of starts made and innings pitched, Gonsalves appears due for a call-up.

In his first start, he allowed three runs in six innings. Since then, Gonsalves has allowed three runs in his next six starts combined. In his first start, he allowed six hits. Gonsalves hasn’t allowed more than four hits since then.

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The only variance in his performances is the walks and strikeouts. He’s walked as many as four and as few as zero while striking out as many as eight and as few as three. No issue here as the averages look awfully nice.

His 3.0 BB/9 and 8.0 K/9 closely compare to the time spent with Cedar Rapids last year where Gonsalves owned a 2.5 BB/9 and a 12.6 K/9.

His ERA’s are also relatively the same. In 2015 with Cedar Rapids his ERA was 1.15 while this season his ERA thus far is 1.27.

Gonsalves is pitching consistently well, bottom line. All the stats align and justify a promotion.

In a recent start, he said his command of the curveball was better than ever.

“I had my curveball working, which was really the first time this season I’ve had it,” the left-hander said. “Because of that, I was able to mix it in 25 to 30 percent of the time. It helped me continuously get ahead and allowed me to keep the slider in my back pocket all night. I only used that pitch twice and both were strikeouts.”

His curveball and slider previously were in question. The command of both pitches were the problem area for Gonsalves. When he uses both pitches for strikeouts as well as getting ahead in the count, he is dominating.

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His record means next to nothing at this point. Consistency is more important. So far this season, Gonsalves is pitching consistently well, enough for a promotion.