Pittsburgh Pirates: A Look Back at Prospect Erik Gonzalez

The Call

This allowed him finally to get called up to the big leagues for the Indians.  He made his début and played in 21 total games.  He made a good impression too, although he only recorded 16 total at-bats.  Gonzalez batted .313/.353/.313 with five hits, eight strikeouts, and two runs scored.

While it was a very small cup of coffee, performing well is better than not. This made Gonzalez become the Indians’ eighth ranked prospect once again. In 2017, he spent time between Triple-A and the big leagues once again, then finally stayed up with the team for all the 2018 season appearing in 81 games.

Why didn’t Gonzalez get a lot of time with the Indians?  Well, that is because the Indians have arguably the best shortstop in the league in Francisco Lindor.  This has been the problem for Gonzalez over the last few years.

The Indians infield has been loaded with talent between Lindor at shortstop, Jose Ramirez at third, and Jason Kipnis at second.  So playing time has been hard to come by for Gonzalez. For a young player, consistent playing time is the most important thing toward developing at the big league level.  The Indians best players were their infielders so it was hard to find Gonzalez that consistent playing time.