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Three players who could improve the Pittsburgh Pirates’ offense right now
By Noah Wright
Nick Gonzales
The Pirates took Nick Gonzales seventh overall in the 2020 draft. After steadily climbing the minor league ladder, Gonzales made his MLB debut last year, but it wasn’t very pretty. In 128 plate appearances, Gonzales batted just .209/.268/.348 with a .268 wOBA and 64 wRC+. The former first-rounder struck out 28.1 percent of the time, which isn’t good. But more worrisome was his extremely poor 4.8 percent walk rate.
Gonzales was sent back to Triple-A to open the 2024 season, and he has been nothing short of spectacular for Indy to start the year. Through 128 plate appearances, he is batting .360/.422/.596 with a .445 wOBA, resulting in a 166 wRC+. He already has a whopping 14 doubles to go along with three triples and two dingers. The infielder is striking out a lot less frequently so far compared to previous seasons, with only a 17.2 percent K%. But he’s also not walking as often, with a 7.8 percent BB%.
Gonzales had trouble in previous seasons against off-speed and breaking stuff, but it hasn’t given him nearly as much trouble this season. So far this year, the numbers are a lot more promising. He is currently slashing .311/.338/.492 with a 30.4 percent whiff rate and 89.3 MPH exit velocity against off-speed/breaking pitches. That’s a massive step forward from his .225/.317/.424 triple-slash, 39.1 percent whiff rate, and 84.5 MPH exit velo against the same pitches last year.
Gonzales might never be an elite breaking/off-speed hitter, but it’s clear that something has changed. A near nine percent decrease in swing and miss rate, as well as a near five MPH uptick in exit velocity on these pitches, is extremely promising to see, even if it is in a small sample size. Gonzales is now on his way to Pittsburgh, and if he can carry that adjustment over, he’ll be a solid hitter for the Pirates.