Oscar Gonzalez – The Oscar Goes To Cleveland

Should you watched the playoffs like me, you already know that Oscar Gonzalez was making a reputation for himself. Not practically within the dramatic vogue that Arozarena did in 2020, however never-the-less nonetheless eye-catching. What I didn’t notice earlier than was simply how huge he’s… he’s 6’4″ 240 lbs, virtually as huge as Franmil. Oscar is an enormous athletic participant with plenty of pure energy and he has stage presence.

Oscar Gonzalez was known as up final 12 months for the Guardians after hitting a mixed 27/75/.273 throughout 464 ABs at AAA Columbus between 2021 and early 2022 earlier than being known as up for his first style of the majors on the finish of Might. 27 HR is kind of the accomplishment for a participant nonetheless on the recent aspect of 25. The ability and phone expertise he confirmed ended up making Franmil Reyes dispensable. He didn’t come up hitting the duvet off the ball ming you; however because the season went on, he received higher.

After a small pattern of video games in Might, he performed persistently via June and hit a decent .255 in his first full month. The ability didn’t translate a lot at first however at the least he was getting hits. Oscar then went down with an stomach pressure on June twenty ninth, costing him the month of July. Then in August when he got here again wholesome he started to hit extra persistently. Lastly, in September the facility he displayed within the minors confirmed up. Giddy up.

And that’s the true draw right here. Not solely did the facility present up, however he additionally will get hits. His OPS grew every month of play even with the harm within the center. And with that, the manufacturing of his hitting elevated too; he was hitting extra, and extra when it mattered. Oscar Gonzalez completed the season with a wRC+ for September of 138. That’s all-star-level hitting. And, he had trimmed down his strikeout price to a really affordable 15.9% on the month with constructive splits in opposition to RHP.

However the factor I’m most enthusiastic about is that this… WHY the house runs began coming:

After he got here again from the IL, He began elevating. Oscar was hitting fewer groundballs and extra flyballs. On high of that, he was changing these flyballs to residence runs. A few of these deep doubles have been lastly clearing the wall. And probably the most encouraging a part of that’s that 42.5% of his hits have been now going to centerfield. That’s signal {that a} participant is seeing the ball effectively and making good contact within the zone.

Very like Rengifo whom I lined final week, Gonzalez does have the blemish of a low stroll price and an aggressive swing-happy method.

Oscar’s one flaw that led him into slumps is the low stroll price and a forty five.7% swing price on exterior chase pitches. This might very effectively result in some poor contact and outs; however very similar to Rengifo, I don’t assume it can value him an excessive amount of within the type of Ks as he makes plenty of contact as evidenced by the 84% price in zone. The check for him might be his skill to be extra selective on his swings.

At the moment, with an ADP of 178, I like the worth for what might be a stable hitter with energy. And if the model of him we noticed in September is the true deal, we’re 25 HR with a .275+ AVG with an opportunity for extra and a wholesome array of counting stats on a contact-first workforce that can put folks on base forward of him.