‘They want me to start’: Former Gonzaga standout pitcher Marco Gonzales provides Pirates rotation depth
When the Seattle Mariners sent Marco Gonzales to the Atlanta Braves as part of a trade package, the timing took him by surprise. After a couple of days in limbo, the 31-year-old left-hander was pleased that he wound up with the pitching-needy Pittsburgh Pirates.
With All-Star right-hander Mitch Keller the only traditional starter returning to their rotation, the Pirates pounced and acquired Gonzales on Dec. 5 for a player to be named later or cash considerations.
“They want me to start, first and foremost. They’ve made that very clear to me,” Gonzales said Monday in a video conference call with Pittsburgh reporters. “That’s what I intend to do as well. I’ve been a starter pretty much my entire career, and that’s where I think I fit best.
Before last season, when he was shut down after 10 starts with a left forearm strain, Gonzales had a reputation as a workhorse. He has made 155 career starts over nine seasons in the majors, including a 61-47 record, 4.08 ERA and 1.27 WHIP over seven seasons with the Mariners. After pitching 183 innings in 32 starts in 2022, he made only 10 starts last season before undergoing surgery in August to decompress the anterior interosseous nerve in his left forearm.
After his rehabilitation, Gonzales spent the offseason training at T-Mobile Park with the Mariners’ staff until the Dec. 3 trade to Atlanta. Since then, Gonzales has worked with Driveline – the renowned data-driven baseball performance training center – and a physical therapy clinic in Bellevue.
“I’ve been really fortunate after the season was over, I was pretty much cleared to do more baseball activities, so I’ve had a relatively normal offseason, which has been really good,” Gonzales said. “It’s been a busy offseason but very, very normal health wise. Looking forward to a normal season, for sure.”
The Pirates are hoping Gonzales can have a resurgent season, much the way that left-handers Tyler Anderson, Jose Quintana and Rich Hill did the past three years.
Gonzales had a sub-4.00 ERA through 765⅔ innings before his arm issues. Signs of trouble emerged in 2021, when he allowed 29 home runs, and his strikeouts per nine innings dipped from 8.3 to 6.8. Gonzales was 10-15 with a 4.13 ERA and allowed 30 home runs in 2022.
Gonzales went 4-1 with a 5.22 ERA in 50 innings last season, giving up eight runs in two outings and ranking in the bottom 10th of MLB in fastball velocity (89 mph), whiff percentage (19.8%), strikeout rate (15.8%) and expected batting average (.288). His focus at Driveline is working on throwing his four-seam fastball for strikes.
