Skip to main content

Righty prospect Gonzalez gets the call for Tuesday start

SevGonzalez
Severino Gonzalez, image- Jay Floyd
The Phillies announced on Saturday that right-hander Severino Gonzalez will make his big league debut on Tuesday at St. Louis.

The Panama native was honored as the Phils' top minor league pitcher with the annual Paul Owens Award in 2013 when he posted a 7-5 record, a 2.00 ERA, a .224 batting average against along with his 10.33 K/9 and his 1.91 BB/9 combined across three levels.

Last year at Double-A Reading, Gonzalez's stats took a dip. En route to leading all Phillies minor leaguers in starts and innings, he posted a 9-13 record with a 4.59 ERA with a 6.52 K/9 mark. Not great numbers there, but he wrapped up his 2014 campaign nicely, notching a 3-1 record and a 2.53 ERA in his final five starts of the season.

This year, with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, the six-foot-two 155-pounder has tallied a 1-1 record and a 3.57 ERA along with nine strike outs and two walks in 17 2/3 innings over three starts.

To put the progress of Gonzalez, at age 22 in the big leagues this week, into perspective, there are six pitchers on the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws roster (four levels down) that are older than Gonzalez.

What to expect:
Gonzalez's repertoire includes a cut fastball that peaks in the low 90's, a curve ball that dives down and away from righty hitters as well as a a quality change up.


From last season, here's a quote on Gonzalez's offerings from his battery with Reading Logan Moore:
He's got movement, it's just the other way. It's not a sinker, he's got a natural cut to it, which helps him out against righties and lefties, actually. His fastball's running away from righties a lot and running into lefties, so he's able to get the ball inside to lefties and away from righties pretty good. So, it's not every straight, so there's always some movement. It's just not sink movement, it's the other way. It works. It's something you don't see a whole lot, but it works.
Click here for a close look at Gonzalez's curve ball.

The outlook:

Is he a lock to remain in the rotation for the foreseeable future? I don't think so. But, it's fully possible Gonzalez could surprise people and be better than serviceable going forward, much like David Buchanan did last year for the Phillies.

A 40-man roster move will need to be made to accommodate the addition of the man referred to by teammates as "Chevito". Phillippe Aumont took the vacated spot in Lehigh Valley's starting rotation on Sunday.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Stats to Ponder: Jimmy Rollins Edition

J-Roll has batted under .200 for a calendar month twice in his career. In April 2004, Rollins went 13-for-71, for a .183 average. The following month, Rollins went 30-for-107, which is a .280 average. And in August 2005, Rollins went 22-for-117, for a .188 average. The month that followed saw Rollins go 49-for-122 for a .402 average. Rollins is batting .171 so far in May 2009. Improvement is not far away for Jimmy. The Phillies are 10-2 in games this year which Rollins scores at least 1 run. The Phillies are 4-12 in games which Rollins does not score. Jimmy Rollins in 6 games against the Braves this year is batting .071 (2-for-28). In 2008 Rollins batted .284 against the Braves in 18 games. In 2007 Rollins batted .347 against the Braves in 18 games. In 2006 Rollins batted .367 against the Braves in 18 games. Jimmy Milestone Watch: 6 more RBI and Rollins will tie Scott Rolen for 25th all time in Phillies RBI leaders. 7 more triples and Rollins will tie Richie Ashburn for 4th all time i...

Crawford's Chronicles: JP Crawford talks Spring Training

JP Crawford, image- Jay Floyd Entering this year as the widely regarded top prospect in the Phillies organization, J.P. Crawford will be taking time each week to provide insight directly from inside spring training in Clearwater, FL, right here on PhilliesNation.com. Crawford, 20, was named the top positional prospect in two leagues (Class A South Atlantic League and Class A Advanced Florida State League) last year, when he combined, in 123 games, to post a .285 average, 11 homers, 48 RBI and 24 stolen bases. He also represented the Phils organization in the MLB All-Star Futures Game last season. As the 2015 campaign approaches, the six-foot-two 180-pound lefty batter is expected to reach the Double-A level and continue to prove why the Phillies selected him in the first round of the 2013 draft. In this initial installment of our weekly check-in with J.P., he shares thoughts on a variety of topics, including his exclusion from big league camp, which member of the big leagu...

Phreestyle Battle & Notes

Unrelated to baseball, really...but it's fun and our Phils are off today. This new kid on the hip hop scene, Charles Hamilton , whose single Brooklyn Girl is ripping up radio and video count downs, was at PSU for a performance recently. A freestyle battle ensued, and as you'll see, the Penn State student held his own. Stay tuned for the ending. It's the best part. Here are some random Phillies-in-idle baseball thoughts and notes- Colbert Hamels is slated to make his Grapefruit League debut tomorrow vs. Team Canada. Shane Victorino is going to wear #50 on his jersey for Team USA, a nod to Hawaii Five-O. Brad Lidge is likely to not see game action till next week, after he throws some more bullpen sessions and works out the tightness in his forearm. Albert Pujols is declaring "respect for his country" as reasoning for sitting out of the Cardinals' exhibition this week against Team Dominican Republic. He told reporters, "I don’t want to play against them...