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Minnesota Twins: Stephen Gonsalves debut leaves much to be desired

By Benjamin Chase

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - AUGUST 20: Stephen Gonsalves #59 of the Minnesota Twins delivers a pitch in his major league debut against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning of the game on August 20, 2018 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This is a make up game from the weather postponed game on April 15, 2018. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - AUGUST 20: Stephen Gonsalves #59 of the Minnesota Twins delivers a pitch in his major league debut against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning of the game on August 20, 2018 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This is a make up game from the weather postponed game on April 15, 2018. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
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Lasting just 1 1/3 inning, Stephen Gonsalves didn’t endear himself to Minnesota Twins fans, but there is more to like with Gonsalves

After some extreme curiosity with the Minnesota Twins callup schedule that brought Kohl Stewart up for his debut on August 12th, the guy who everyone thought should be getting the call at that time, Stephen Gonsalves, finally made his debut on Monday night.

It didn’t go the way Minnesota Twins fans were hoping, to say the least.

The first inning showed excellent promise. Gonsalves attacked the White Sox, throwing four fastballs to open the game to get a line out and a single. He then mixed all four pitches to get a pair of strikeouts over the next two hitters while also giving up one single. All told in the first, he made 21 pitches, allowing two singles and picking up two strikeouts.

The last hitter of the first inning showed where things would go bad. Against Avisail Garcia, Gonsalves, who has a fastball that usually works 90-93 and can touch 95-96, and then three fringe-plus offspeed offerings, threw curve, change, slider, change, change to get a strikeout to finish the first inning.

When he came out in the second inning, the fastball that was firmly 91 MPH in the first inning was suddenly not eclipsing 90, sitting in the upper 80s. He got pounded by the first hitter of the 2nd inning for a triple on a fastball that only registered 88.7 MPH.

In two of the biggest moments of the inning, Gonsalves went away from his fastball completely, throwing a curve and slider to Tim Anderson before Anderson hit a bases-loaded single. Then with the always-dangerous Jose Abreu at the plate, he threw two sliders before Abreu tagged a changeup for a double to score a pair of runs.

Overall, Gonsalves finished the night with 1 1/3 innings, 4 runs allowed on 6 hits and 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts.

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The good news for Minnesota Twins fans is that this is not what Stephen Gonsalves can be. While he’s not an ace, I looked at Gonsalves last fall, and he has the pitch mix and ability to sequence that should allow him to work well as a mid-rotation starter.

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