Miguel

Gonzalez

Gonzalez underwent major surgery on his right shoulder in July and will likely be sidelined for most of the 2019 season. He’s a free agent this offseason and will likely have to wait until his rehab is complete before signing with a new team.

He’ll give the O’s a fresh arm after they were pounded for 11 runs Saturday. Gonzalez holds a 2.45 ERA and 1.09 WHIP over two appearances in the bigs this season.

He struck out four and walked none. Gonzalez surrendered three extra-base hits, one of which was a solo home run off the bat of Rajai Davis. The non-quality outing was just his second in six starts dating back to August 1. Gonzalez will look to get back on track against the Rays at home next Tuesday, where he’ll be sporting a 3.62 ERA at first pitch.

It was speculated that Jake Arrieta would be demoted, but the Orioles plan to let Arrieta work out his struggles in the bullpen. Gonzalez will return to a 1.50 ERA and 36/5 K/BB ratio in the minors.

Gonzalez has started and relieved at Norfolk this season and threw four innings in a relief appearance with the O’s Thursday before being sent down. “He stays in the fold, presented himself well,” manager Buck Showalter said. “He’ll go down there and start. We’ve gotten him up to five innings, I think it’s 70 pitches, which is not quite where you want to be to be a starting option, but we would like to go out there and let him do that and get stretched back out.”

Gonzalez beat his original organization. The Angels signed him out of Mexico in 2005 but lost him to the Red Sox in the Dec. 2008 Rule 5 draft. Injuries appeared to ruin his prospects after that, but here he is with a 1.93 ERA in four appearances with the Orioles. We wouldn’t trust him in AL-only leagues just yet, but those with open bench spots could give him a try.

We thought Dana Eveland might get another shot, but the Orioles have decided to give Gonzalez a chance. The 28-year-old right-hander has earned it with a 2.31 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and 12 strikeouts over 11 2/3 relief innings for the O’s. He’s also been terrific at Triple-A this season, posting a 1.61 ERA, 0.72 WHIP with 52 strikeouts over 44 2/3 frames. But, despite the nice numbers, we’re skeptical Gonzalez will do anything to help fantasy owners.

Gonzalez reeled off three scoreless innings, but the Rangers started to get to him in the fourth and he wasn’t long for the game after that. Though he’s been a pleasant surprise, Gonzalez had been pitching over his head and the O’s couldn’t realistically expect him to hold down the Rangers’ mighty lineup. He’ll bring a 3.66 ERA and 1.30 WHIP into this weekend’s start against the Blue Jays.

The Yanks got to him with a trio of longballs, but Gonzalez was able to limit the damage by not issuing any walks. It’s a nice rebound effort in a tough environment after the righty was knocked around by the Rays his last time out. He’ll bring a 4.46 ERA and 1.36 WHIP into a start against those same Rays this weekend.

He struck out two and walked one in his third consecutive quality start to start off the month of August. A pleasant surprise since joining the Orioles rotation, Gonzalez is now the owner of a 3.38 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 47/22 K/BB ratio through 61 1/3 frames. He’ll get the Rangers in Texas on Monday. You may want to keep him benched for that one.