Gonzalez is already making amazing plays in the outfield as he steals a hit away
from the Cardinals (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Is that #5 roaming right field for the Rockies? The #5 that was traded to Oakland last off season?! He looks a bit slimmer…and definitely faster than the old number 5.
That isn’t Matt Holliday in right field, wearing #5, for the Rockies, it is Carlos Eduardo Gonzalez. Gonzalez was the key piece in the trade of Holliday to Oakland and when he landed in Denver he was assigned #5. No, he doesn’t think he can replace Holliday or does he want to outwardly attempt to be better than Holliday, the number was given to him, so he wears it.
Gonzalez was born October 17th 1985 in Maracaibo, Venezuela. He was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks on August 3rd, 2002 at the age of 16. Players outside of the United States can be signed by any club and are not subject to the baseball draft. Gonzalez was found and signed by the scouts of the Diamondbacks and he started his professional baseball careers in 2003 at the age of 17, when most kids are in their junior year of high school.
Gonzalez has been touted as one of the best, if not the best prospect for both the Arizona and Oakland organizations before being traded to Colorado. His list of awards and honors in the minor leagues is pretty vast.
In 2005 Gonzalez was a Baseball America Low Class A All Star, MID Most Valuable Player, MID Prospect of the Year, MID Post Season All Star, MID Mid Season All Star and the MID Player of the Week for 6/5/2005.
Gonzalez was originally signed by the D-Backs
In 2006 Gonzalez was a Futures Game selection, a Baseball America High Class A All Star, a CAL Post Season All Star and he was twice the CAL Player of the Week for the week of 5/21/2006 and 7/2/2006.
In 2007 Gonzalez was once again selected to play in the Futures Game and in 2008 he was the PCL Championship MVP.
Gonzalez is still only 23 and he already has seven seasons of professional baseball under his belt. In those seven seasons he has amassed 2713 plate appearances. He has a batting line of .291/.348/.485 with 88 career minor league home runs.
In his time with the Colorado Sky Sox in 2009 he batted .339 with 12 doubles, seven triples and 10 home runs in only 192 at-bats. His OPS while with the Sky Sox was an incredible 1.048. He was screaming at the parent organization to call him up with those gaudy numbers.
2009 marks Gonzalez’s first appearance with the Rockies, but not his first appearance in the major leagues. In 2008 he played in 85 games for the Oakland A’s and came to the plate 316 times. His major draw back in his first stint in the majors was his strikeout and walk rates. In those 316 plate appearances he struck out 81 times and only walked 13. Those numbers might be OK if he was hitting for major power. Usually high strike out totals like Gonzalez put up in his first year are reserved for power hitters like Ryan Howard, guys who will hit 50 home runs a year and make striking out 160 times bearable. However, Gonzalez only hit four home runs in 2008.
Gonzalez was with the A's in 2008
In 2009 Gonzalez will work much harder on his plate discipline. Both he and Dexter Fowler are still learning the strike zone and learning to recognize a major league breaking ball. Both are still young and as long as both show improvement over the season, they will both be with the Rockies for the remainder of the year and hopefully for years to come.
Gonzalez has the speed to play center field and the arm to play right field. With Fowler entrenched as the future center fielder of the Rockies and with Brad Hawpe in right the Rockies have a left fielder in Gonzalez that immediately ranks as one on of the best defensively in the major leagues. With Fowler and Gonzalez in the outfield there will not be too many balls that hit the grass in center and left at Coors Field.
Give the new #5 a warm Colorado welcome, if he develops into the player everyone expects we will all forget about that old #5 in short order.
2009 Update: The birth of a new star might have been born in 2009. Gonzalez quickly became a fan favorite and his nickname-CarGo-even has that catchy aspect needed for all superstars. In the second half of 2009 CarGo hit .320/.384/.608 for a whopping .992 OPS. He slugged 12 home runs, stole 11 bases, scored 42 runs and drove in 24 more. He did it all for the Rockies at the plate in the second half. But as demonstrated by Brad Hawpe in 2009, a half does not make an entire season. CarGo will require a full season of productivity like that and he will officially be a superstar and fulfill the potential that has been seen in him since he was drafted.
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