Nick Gonzales - 6/1/22

Prospect Spotlight on Pirates' Nick Gonzales

Prospect Spotlight 🔦

Nick Gonzales, 2B - 23 y/o, R/R, 5'10" / 195 - Pirates (AA)

The Pirates selected Gonzales 7th overall in the 2020 draft out of New Mexico State. Although Gonzales put up an impressive collegiate slash line of .399/.502/.747, he did so in an extremely hitter-friendly ballpark while facing below-average pitching. Clubs that rely on models as a part of their draft process likely down-weighted that performance, but the Pirates saw enough to pop him with the 7th overall pick. In his two professional seasons Gonzales has hit a combined .285/.379/.504 (.384 wOBA) with 22 home runs in 552 plate appearances across High-A and Double-A. While collectively he’s hit for power and drawn walks at an above-average rate, he’s also struck out in nearly 30% of his professional plate appearances.

Gonzales has a short, compact swing he can get off with explosive force that generates power to all fields. So far he’s struggled to get to that power consistently in games at the Double-A level, slugging just .382 across 152 ABs. Perhaps more concerning is his increasing propensity to swing and miss — coming into yesterday Gonzales had a swinging strike rate of 17%, which was among the highest rates in the Eastern League. As you can see in the plot below, that’s a rate 35% higher than the league average hitter. What’s kept Gonzales afloat this season has been has ability to draw walks, which he’s done so at a rate also close to 35% higher than the Eastern League average.