Pirates first-round pick Nick Gonzales will take a physical on Wednesday, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets. Assuming there aren’t any issues, Gonzales plans to sign with the team, according to Mackey. As the seventh overall pick, he’s expected to sign for the slot value of $5,432,400, per Mackey.
The 21-year-old Gonzales was a star at New Mexico State, where he played in the middle infield (primarily second base) and slashed .399/.502/.747 with 37 home runs in 596 plate appearances from 2018-20.
On the heels of his stellar college career, Gonzales entered the draft as a top seven prospect according to MLB.com (No. 5), Baseball America (No. 5), FanGraphs (No. 6) and Keith Law of The Athletic (No. 7). Gonzales “has as much pure hitting ability as just about any bat in the 2020 class,” per MLB.com, which notes that some compare him to Brewers second baseman Keston Hiura.
Nice he is good
Injury prone?
Typical Pirate safe pick. Average fielder, low power, potentially high average. Sounds like Kevin Newman.
the dude nearly hit .400. what more did you expect from that pick?
I think he was expecting Veen instead of Gonzales here.
How can you say “low power” the dude hit 12 HRs in 16 games to start his last year. And it’s not even like that was a total anomaly — he hit like 16 the season prior and another 7 in the Cape League lol
The `HR in the college games may or may not be an anomaly because he was playing in a higher altitude league from what I have read. Similar to being on the Rockies or the Colorado Springs MILB team.. However, the Cape Cod numbers maybe not so much as a wooden bat league and at sea level. Somewhere in between I would say. I like the pick.
They said the exact same about Jose altuve with average fielding, no power, and too short yet non of that mattered! I see this kid as a star
Wow in his senior year he had already hit 12 HRs in just 16 games. That would have been one heck of a season had he continued anywhere near that pace for a full year! He looks like a pretty solid pick for the Pirates!
The only reason not to like this pick is because they have already invested so heavily in first round middle infielders lately.
But, he seems like a really good prospect.
You can move middle infield prospects around, esp to OF such as CF if they’re fast enough.
Can also trade from your strength for the pieces you need as well.
I like the pick. The guy is on base machine. He had a great showing in the cape cod league which showed he could handle higher level competition and thrive.
He was the best player available always take the best player available