Derek Shelton and Ben Cherington have often lauded Nick Gonzales for the way he took it upon himself to ask questions at the end of last season before implementing a plan to make adjustments to his swing during the offseason. Gonzales followed through with necessary offensive tweaks that allowed him to be longer in the zone and make contact on pitches he should hit and others he hadn't in the past.
"He’s made an adjustment in his swing to get more contact and started the season in Triple-A working on that. We’re seeing a more consistent at-bat and is more of a threat at the plate now than he was last year," Cherington said on his weekly radio show Sunday. "He’s highly accountable and a smart baseball player. He works hard and wants to be part of the team. When he’s in the lineup, he’s going to find a way to help you."
After hitting just .209 in 115 major-league at-bats last year, falling short of making the club out of spring training this year and being promoted from Class AAA Indianapolis in early May, Gonzales has put his offseason work into play and while he's still experienced his share of struggles, he's never really looked back. Gonzales is now batting .271 with five home runs and 45 RBIs in 78 games after going 1 for 2 with a walk, a hit by pitch and an eighth-inning single in the Pirates' 6-4 win over the Marlins Tuesday night at PNC Park.
"I think staying true to that is what has made him be, for a very simplistic term, better. Just more consistent," Shelton said prior to Tuesday's game. "Now there's definitely ways forward and things he has to get better at but I think he had to cross that first hurdle first before he could get to the point where we can go to the next step of development."
Gonzales has consistently hit well against fastballs as a major leaguer, but he struggled against breaking balls in his short 35-game stint last season, hitting .135 against them. He was often overmatched by offspeed stuff, compiling a .059.
This season, Gonzales' adjustments have stood out, as they have allowed him to make consistent contact with more than just heaters in the zone. He's hitting an improved .400 against offspeed pitches and has experienced a slight improvement against breaking balls with a .195 average. Sure, there's significant room for growth there, but it's a step in the right direction.
Just like the fact that he's striking out less against both pitch types. Albeit in a smaller sample size, Gonzales posted a strikeout rate of 34% (14 times in 41 plate appearances) against breaking pitches and 44% (eight times in 18 plate appearances) against offspeed. This year, he's struck out at a 25% rate (31 times in 125 plate appearances) against breaking balls and 11% (four times in 36 plate appearances) against offspeed. His overall strikeout rate has also decreased from 28.1% last year to 19.9% this year.
"Definitely happy with it," Gonzales told me. "Something I put a lot of work into during the offseason and it wasn't just me. The whole hitting staff, everybody really, put in the work to create a plan and allowed me to have freedom to go about finding the ways that are best for me to help myself get to where I need to be."
Gonzales' stellar season came to a halt back in late July when he landed on the injured list with left groin discomfort. He missed nearly a month of action and, upon his return to the lineup on Aug. 26, has been able to remain consistent with his approach and stay true to the adjustments that have led to his success. In 14 games since being activated from the IL, he's hitting .327 (18 for 55) with three doubles, six RBIs and eight runs scored.
"You don't want to go on the IL and miss a good chunk of time like I did because it's tough to come back and be ready to go," Gonzales said. "I tried to do as much as I could with the limited amount I was able to just stay ready and on top of it. Maintain the same routine and drills in the cage so when I got back here it just flowed."
I asked Gonzales about the challenges associated with his heftier major-league workload this season and he said one of the most challenging things has been trusting himself through the ups and downs and not thinking he has to completely alter what he's doing at the plate when the results aren't there.
"Just keeping the pace," Gonzales said. "If you're struggling a bit, you feel like you have to change something, but sometimes it's just baseball and you just have to continue to get back on the ball."
As far as goals for the remainder of the season go, Gonzales doesn't view the rest of the September slate as being filled with meaningless games. Sure the Pirates aren't fighting for a postseason berth, but there are still reasons to continue playing until the end.
"I just want to finish strong, help the team win as many games as we can and see where we're at at the end of the year," Gonzales said. "I just want to continue to get better and continue to work on the things I need to work on so I can go into the offseason and next year having a plan just like I did last year and let that carry into whatever happens in the future."
The future Gonzales mentioned could very likely include him being the starting second baseman for years to come. The former first-round pick has proven his value to this year's squad with the manner in which he's been able to improve and take advantage of the opportunity he's been given this season. That has led to Shelton believing in his ability to deliver, both offensively and defensively, at the big-league level.
"I think it's heightened it and the other thing is the commitment to the adjustments," Shelton said. "You can talk about making adjustments or you can talk about approach but actually being able to facilitate those and put them into play is when guys start to separate themselves."
