ROCKIES: After difficult 2017 season, Carlos Gonzalez has a lot to prove as he rejoins team.
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ.» The return of Carlos Gonzalez sparked a feel-good festival at Salt River Fields this week. His bright smile and easy laugh instantly brightened the mood at the Rockies’ spring training home.
But the warm fuzzies won’t last if Gonzalez doesn’t produce on the field, and after his struggles last season, legitimate questions remain about just how productive the 32-year-old right fielder will be. A sizzling September was encouraging, but 2017 was still one of the most maddening seasons of his 10year career. He batted .262 with a .762 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS), 14 homers and 57 RBIs, his worst numbers since his injury-marred 2014 season (.238, .723, 11 and 38).
Gonzalez, naturally, says he’s primed for a season of redemption.
“I know that I’m capable of playing at a high level,” he said Tuesday morning, a day after officially signing a oneyear, $8 million contract. “Baseball is different. You have to go out there and battle every day, but I feel strong, I feel prepared and I’m ready to go.”
Nolan Arenado, Colorado’s all-star third baseman and a good friend of Gonzalez’s, has joined the chorus of those expressing optimism for 2018.
“I think he’s a great player, and I still think he can do some damage,” Arenado said.
But Gonzalez certainly didn’t look like a great player for much of last season. He was hitting just .214 with six homers through mid-July as he searched for answers and adjusted his grip on the bat. He also visited a sleep specialist to find solutions for a case of insomnia that was exacerbated by baseball’s long road trips and night games.
His hard work, and persistence to find solutions, paid off down the stretch. From Aug. 1 to season’s end, he hit .325, with eight homers, a .407 on-base percentage, a .583 slugging percentage and 31 RBIs.
“In the second half, CarGo took his walks. He ran deep counts. His September stats were great,” manager Bud Black said. “(He’s) a threat, and the other side knows it.”
According to Fangraphs, Gonzalez was the ninthmost-valuable position player across all of baseball in September, hitting .370 with a .477 on-base percentage and a .753 OPS and producing 1.3 WAR (wins above replacement).
Gonzalez’s problems last season weren’t about a lack of power or bat speed. According to Statcast, he was one of just nine hitters last season to at least twice reach 115 mph on a batted ball. The problem, especially early in the season, was that Gonzalez was simply missing too many pitches — pitches he used to drive.
That frustration changed down the stretch, as Gonzalez helped lead the Rockies to their first playoff appearance since 2009.
“With CarGo, the leg kick is his timing mechanism,” Black said at the time. “When he’s off, he’s going to be out way out front on breaking balls and behind on the fastball.
“But I see that gap narrowing, where he’s becoming on time for both pitches. You’ll know he’s back when he’s on top of fastballs and his hands are sitting back enough to handle the off-speed pitch.”
Black is likely to insert Gonzalez in the No. 3 position in the batting order, ahead of Arenado, except against left-handed pitchers, whom Gonzalez struggled against mightily last season. He had a 3.6 percent walk rate and a 30.7 percent strikeout rate vs. lefties, and according to Fangraphs, only Texas’s Rougned Odor and Minnesota’s Max Kepler were worse against left-handed pitching last season.
Black, however, said it’s too early to figure out when he might sit Gonzalez or move him down in the batting order.
“It’s tough to answer right now, but we are aware of everyone’s statistical numbers,” Black said. “All of this is so often based on a how a player is performing and how he’s swinging a bat at the time. It’s really tough to say you are going to do something when it’s fluid all of the time.”
Gonzalez’s poor 2017 season certainly affected his bank account. He turned down a reported three-year, $45 million contract extension from the Rockies last spring only to see big money dry up for him and a number of other free agents over the winter.
Gonzalez said he turned down the Rockies’ offer “for the experience of going through free agency.” Missing out on a big contract, he said, was not a huge disappointment to him.
“If you make $100 million, if you make $1, it’s the same,” Gonzalez said. “I came (to the United States) with a bat and a glove when I was 16 years old. Everything from now on is a plus.”