MIKE GONZALEZ
5/23/78; '97 30th; San Jacinto (TX) JC
R/L; 6-2, 215
| Level |
W-L-Sv |
G |
GS |
IP |
H |
BB |
K |
ERA |
| 1997 A |
1-1-0 |
4 |
3 |
19.1 |
11 |
8 |
22 |
1.86 |
| 1997
R |
2-0-0 |
7 |
3 |
29.0 |
21 |
8 |
33 |
2.48 |
| 1998 A+ |
0-3-0 |
7 |
7 |
28.1 |
40 |
13 |
22 |
6.67 |
| 1998
A |
4-2-0 |
11 |
9 |
50.2 |
43 |
26 |
72 |
2.84 |
| 1999 AA |
2-3-0 |
7 |
5 |
26.2 |
34 |
19 |
31 |
8.10 |
| 1999
A+ |
10-4-0 |
20 |
20 |
112.0 |
98 |
63 |
119 |
4.02 |
| 2000 A+ |
4-3-0 |
12 |
10 |
56.0 |
57 |
34 |
53 |
4.66 |
| 2000
R |
1-0-0 |
2 |
1 |
6.0 |
8 |
4 |
7 |
4.50 |
| 2001 AA |
5-4-0 |
14 |
14 |
87.1 |
81 |
36 |
66 |
3.71 |
| 2001
A+ |
2-2-0 |
14 |
2 |
30.2 |
28 |
7 |
32 |
2.93 |
| 2002 AA |
8-4-0 |
16 |
16 |
85.1 |
77 |
47 |
82 |
3.80 |
| 2002
R |
2-0-0 |
2 |
2 |
13.1 |
5 |
3 |
14 |
0.00 |
| 2003 NL |
0-1-0 |
16 |
0 |
8.1 |
7 |
6 |
6 |
7.56 |
| 2003 AAA |
0-0-2 |
7 |
0 |
10.0 |
9 |
4 |
10 |
4.50 |
| 2003 AAA (Bos) |
0-0-1 |
2 |
0 |
1.2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
0.00 |
| 2003 AA |
0-0-1 |
5 |
0 |
7.1 |
4 |
2 |
10 |
1.23 |
| 2003 A+ |
0-1-0 |
5 |
0 |
7.0 |
7 |
5 |
9 |
5.14 |
| 2004
NL |
3-1-1 |
47 |
0 |
43.1 |
32 |
6 |
55 |
1.25 |
| 2004 AAA |
2-0-2 |
14 |
0 |
20.0 |
12 |
7 |
35 |
0.90 |
| Level |
W-L-Sv |
G |
GS |
IP |
H |
BB |
K |
ERA |
OAVG |
OOBP |
OSLG |
| 2005
NL |
1-3-3 |
51 |
0 |
50.0 |
35 |
31 |
58 |
2.70 |
.197 |
.316 |
.287 |
| 2005 AAA |
0-0-0 |
2 |
0 |
3.1 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0.00 |
.000 |
.000 |
.000 |
One of the few lucky breaks the Pirates have gotten in recent years occurred in
connection with the infamous Scott Sauerbeck trade. The Pirates traded Sauerbeck
to Boston along with Gonzalez for Brandon Lyon and Anastacio Martinez. The deal
was lopsided in the Sox' favor, seemingly due to the Pirates' desperation to get
somebody with closing experience—Lyon—to replace the departed Mike
Williams. When Lyon checked up with elbow soreness, the Pirates tried to back
out and ended up reworking the trade to reacquire Gonzalez, along with Freddy
Sanchez, for Jeff Suppan, Lyon and Martinez. The failure of the original trade
paid immediate dividends when Julian Tavarez turned out to be a much better
closer than Lyon had been. Better still, however, was Gonzalez' emergence in
2004 as an outstanding reliever.
Gonzalez started out in the Bucs' system as a starter, but couldn't stay healthy.
He suffered an arm injury early in his career, a knee injury in 2002 and back
problems in 2003. In both 2001 and 2002, he managed to get healthy in time for
the Arizona Fall League and impressed observers there. In fact, his status as a
prospect was based heavily on his AFL performances. He attracted a good deal of
attention in 2002 by throwing in the mid-90s in short relief in the AFL, as he
had previously topped out in the low 90s as a starter. He also features a good
slider. His control hasn't been a strong point and the lack of a good change
was also a factor in his move to the bullpen. He actually made very few relief
appearances outside the AFL due to the injury problems, and he struggled with
his command in a callup late in 2003.
Gonzalez started 2004 in AAA and was almost untouchable, fanning not much below
two hitters and allowing less than one baserunner per IP. The Pirates called
him up and he continued to dominate, with a WHIP of 0.88 and K/9 of 11.42.
Particularly amazing was the miniscule walk total, although he may eventually
allow more walks as hitters see him more often. Despite his dominance, Lloyd
McClendon was reluctant for quite some time to use him in close games, and he
sometimes went lengthy periods without appearing in a game. Late in the year,
however, McClendon began trying to use Gonzalez, Salomon Torres and Jose Mesa in
the 7th through 9th innings to protect leads. Gonzalez was equally tough on LH
and RH batters, allowing a miserly .503 OPS to the former and .479 to the latter.
He wasn't as dominant early in 2005, as he was struggling with a balky knee and
ended up wearing a brace. The problem affected his control and he wasn't as
effective. He went on the DL in late June with a 3.68 ERA and 16 BBs in 28 IP.
He returned in mid-August and, although his control remained shaky, he was
otherwise dominant, fanning 29 and allowing only 14 hits in 22 IP. After Jose
Mesa was removed from the closer's role, Gonzalez shared it with Salomon Torres
and both performed very well.
Gonzalez is expected to compete with Torres for the closer's job in spring
training, but new manager Jim Tracy has stated that the team is leaning toward
Gonzalez. The main stumbling block with him is likely to be his propensity for
minor injuries. Realistically, his control also is likely to remain closer to
what it was in 2005 than in 2004, but that's not unusual for a hard-throwing,
short reliever. Gonzalez is widely regarded as having some of the nastiest
stuff among LH relievers and should be very effective for the Pirates in any
role, as long as he's healthy.
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