Pittsburgh Pirates: When Should We Expect Nick Gonzales In The Major Leagues?

Pittsburgh Pirates’ second base prospect Nick Gonzales is one of the best prospects in all of baseball, but when could we expect his major league arrival?

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected middle infielder Nick Gonzales from New Mexico State with the 7th overall pick in the draft last year. Gonzales was considered the top pure hitting prospect in the entire draft, and the Bucs were able to take an arguable top 5 pick a few picks down the line.

Gonzales looked great in college. He had a wOBA above .500, an OBP above .500, had a 1.249 OPS, and 10 more strikeouts than walks (89/79 BB/K ratio). He also did extremely well at the Cape Cod League. Overall, he’s a borderline 5-tool player. But when should we expect Gonzales’ arrival in the major leagues?

Because there was no minor league season last year, Gonzales started his professional career out in 2021. He’s played a total of 13 games at Greensboro and has collected 57 plate appearances. Gonzales has continued to rake, hitting .294/.368/.549 with a .406 wOBA and 157 wRC+. Gonzales is showing more than enough power with 9 of his 15 hits going for extra bases (7 doubles, 2 homers). This has led to an outstanding .255 isolated slugging percentage.

Though Gonzales is hitting very well, his plate discipline has been a bit lackluster so far. He is walking at a solid 8.8% rate but is striking out 28.1% of the time. Though let’s remember this is his first-ever taste of professional pitchers, he just turned 22 at the end of May, and he only played 16 total games at college in 2020 because the season was cut short.

The top prospect is currently ranked as the 30th best prospect by MLB Pipeline and 87th best prospect by FanGraphs. Baseball America had him at #51 and Baseball Prospectus placed him at #39 to start the season. Pipeline also considers him the best second base prospect. However, Gonzales could easily rise the ranks as guys graduate, and if he continues to dominate at Greensboro.

Gonzales starting at High-A ball is promising already. He’s just one level off of Double-A and it’s not out of the question that he could get at least a few games in at Altoona before the end of 2021.

However, his injury may delay him a bit. He was projected to miss about 6-7 weeks’ worth of time, which could lead to a later promotion. Though when he does return, it should be around the beginning of July. He’ll still have plenty of time to show what he can do at Greensboro.

Gonzales should start 2022 out at Altoona. The Bucs could try and squeeze in some playing time at the end of this year, but they should try and get him an extended look in the upper minors. If he performs well there over the course of a month or two, then he should be promoted to Triple-A.

As it stands right now, I would predict that Gonzales becomes a mid-season reinforcement for the team in 2022. That way, he gets at least a month at each level of the minors. Many talented prospects are making the jump from the minors to the majors very quickly, almost completely skipping levels. Gonzales has an extremely advanced plate approach which will help him rise throughout the system quickly. However, there is a sweet spot between rushing a player to the majors and letting them develop just long enough and pushing them through the system at a decent pace.