Oscar Gonzalez

 Over the past couple of years I have watched Gonzalez play.   I knew we was not a highly rated prospect and I understood the reasons why.

Still, watching him this year I saw a real difference in him.   Yeah, there was the usual power and the strong arm in right field.

But some of the things that kept him from being considered an elite prospect seemed to be disappearing.

• He never, to me, showed good speed but this year I saw him leg out some hits for Columbus that reminded me of the speed I see from Amed Rosario and Myles Straw.   But that couldn't be, right?  Well tonight they timed him going to first base in what was defined as close to elite speed.
• He never took many walks but at least this year at Columbus he was seeing more pitches than he had in the past.   This was borne out tonight as he worked pretty deep into counts, at least a lot deeper than earlier years.  Plus, in his major league debut he didn't strike out.  
• In Columbus he seemed to be trying to use the whole field as a hitter this year, maybe too much.  But tonight he got a hit to center and one to right.  When power hitters use the whole field they make themselves more of a weapon, not becoming an all or nothing guy.  
• He showed elite bat speed with his first ML hit leaving his bat at 113 mph.  In fact, in the game he hit 3 of the top 5 hardest hit balls.  That is impressive for a rookie who was not highly touted as a prospect AND in his first major league game.
• His OF defense was always suspect but in Columbus this year he looked better and he made a good running catch with the bases loaded early in the game.

There are 5 tools for a position player in baseball.  Tonight Gonzalez showed all of them to some degree.  That, to me, is a true elite prospect.  And you know what?  From this observer's vantage point, he is much improved all year in 2022, not just in this game.  The improvement, to me, is in some cases amazing, especially his apparent increase in foot speed.  The fact that he is using the whole field more as a hitter in addition to his improved defense and increase in foot speed shows to me that he is taking coaching very well and is doing what he needs to do to improve as a player.  

I think this guy could, given his current upward trajectory, become a lot more than the after thought prospect that a lot of these prospect 'experts' think he could be.   I wasn't sure before but I am now.  As scouts say, if you see it once it is in there.  What we saw tonight should show all the prospect experts that Gonzalez can be an elite prospect.   He already had the power and t appears he has done a lot of work to fill in the question marks in his game.  Tonight reinforced for me that he is working hard to fill in the holes in his game.  Will he ever be a great ML player?  Not until he learns to take more walks.   But given the other progresses he has made in his game in the past two seasons, I can clearly see how the lack of walks thing could disappear in another year or so.  

Wouldn't that be amazing if it did!