Pirates rookie Nick Gonzales flashes extra-base power, good glove in smashing PNC Park debut

Nick Gonzales had a list of major league firsts he wanted to check off on his baseball bucket list, and the Pittsburgh Pirates took care of several of them Tuesday night in his PNC Park debut.

Gonzales hit an RBI triple off the Clemente Wall in his first at-bat and smashed a 442-foot home run to center field in his last at-bat of a 9-4 win over the San Diego Padres.

“That’s special. That’s really cool,” Gonzales said. “You can just play baseball and go out and compete and have fun. That’s what I plan on doing.”

Pirates rookie Nick Gonzales on checking off major league firsts (hit, RBI, run scored, home run) in the 9-4 win over the Padres Tuesday at PNC Park. pic.twitter.com/hZNt835Ji0

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) June 28, 2023

The seventh overall pick of the 2020 MLB Draft out of New Mexico State, Gonzales made his major league debut Friday night at Miami after an impressive June at Triple-A Indianapolis. He batted .270/.440/.460 with five doubles, two triples, one homer and eight RBIs in 18 games, drawing almost as many walks (17) as strikeouts (18).

“He was swinging the bat well,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “When we feel guys are at the point where they’re ready to come to the big leagues, we’re gonna bring them to the big leagues.”

Gonzales was 0 for 8 with a walk in his first three games but took aggressive swings against the Padres. When Gonzales hit Reiss Knehr’s seventh pitch, a full-count fastball, it sailed 339 feet before bouncing off the 21-foot right-field wall and past Fernando Tatis Jr.

“I thought I hit it well enough,” Gonzales said. “He did, obviously, deke it pretty well so wasn’t sure what to expect. I kept running hard and was fortunate it hit the wall.”

Off the wall!@Pirates 2020 first-round pick Nick Gonzales earns his first MLB hit with an RBI triple: pic.twitter.com/4vwDITDaoV

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 28, 2023

Gonzales going opposite field impressed Shelton, especially considering that the ball had an exit velocity of 97.4 mph and went straight.

“When a right-handed hitter hits the ball like that, it just keeps going,” Shelton said. “It didn’t hook. It didn’t slice. So that’s encouraging.”

Shelton emphasized how Gonzales — at only 5-foot-9, 190 pounds — creates power through his lower-body strength and torque that allows him to impact the ball and drive it. That was evident when Gonzales crushed Adrian Morjeon’s 2-2 fastball at an exit velocity of 106 mph off the batter’s eye and into the hedges for his first career homer in the seventh inning.

NICK GONZALES' FIRST HOMER TRAVELS 442 FEET ???? pic.twitter.com/JF71rmhfwi

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 28, 2023

Nick Gonzales' home run swing pic.twitter.com/J48kY9quiu

— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) June 28, 2023

“Off the bat, I knew I hit it well,” Gonzales said. “But I wasn’t sure, not really playing here at all and not really hitting much BP on the field or anything. I wasn’t really sure where it would land. Rounding first base, seeing it hit the wall was pretty cool.”

The game also marked Gonzales’ first start at shortstop, a sign of the Pirates’ confidence in his improved defense. Gonzales was known primarily for his bat at New Mexico State — where he was regarded as college baseball’s top hitter — but has worked hard with his glove.

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“In college, it’s not that I didn’t put in the work defensively,” Gonzales said, “but I think maybe the bat overplayed it.”

Gonzales credits his offseason work with former Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson for encouraging him to flash the leather and use his underrated athleticism, which helped increase his confidence defensively.

Wilson was in town over the weekend and left an autographed Pirates cap in Gonzales’ locker: “Congrats Nicky G!! Welcome to The Show. Proud of You, Bro.”

“Jack’s helped me defensively a good amount, just being able to play different positions, the arm, the range, consistency, everything like that,” Gonzales said. “I was focused on making the routine plays and limited myself. Now I’m using more range out there.”

After playing primarily at second base in the lower levels of the minors, Gonzales has found that bouncing around the infield to shortstop and third base this season has made him more fluid on defense.

Gonzales started a 6-4-3 double play on Tatis in the first inning, caught a Manny Machado pop fly in the third, got Nelson Cruz on a groundout in the fourth and Machado and Gary Sanchez on groundouts in the sixth.

After second baseman Ji Hwan Bae was ejected and replaced by Tucupita Marcano in the sixth inning, Gonzales switched to second base and turned another double play on Tatis in the seventh.

“I’ve definitely been making improvements defensively from college and working that out every single day,” Gonzales said. “It’s something that I want to improve on and want to be better at, not just being a bat-first type of guy. I want to be a plus-defender. … I’m here to play ball and play at a high level. I’m looking forward to that and seeing where it takes me.”