Nick

Gonzales

It won’t be his fault, but a lot of Pirates fans are probably going to be disappointed if Gonzales is the team’s starting shortstop on Opening Day. His second base job has been primarily taken by Brandon Lowe, so if Konnor Griffin makes the Pirates, Gonzales will probably wind up limited to starting against lefties. Still, it seems a bit more likely that he’ll get the shortstop spot to himself for a little while so that Griffin can work on his defense or something in the minors.

The error was on a wild throw home on a potential play at the plate. One batter earlier, Nick Yorke, in the same situation as a relay man at second, paused a beat and delivered a strike home to throw out Ke’Bryan Hayes. Gonzales did the opposite, trying to catch and throw in one motion and fired nowhere near the plate, allowing the hitter to take second. The Pirates recently moved Gonzales to short, seeming giving his prospects a boost, but while his defense has been adequate, he hasn’t helped himself with the bat; he’s hitting .192/.229/.222 this month and .258/.291/.331 with one homer in 58 games during the second half.

He had as many RBI today as in his previous 24 games combined. Triolo initially took over as the Pirates’ everyday shortstop when Isiah Kiner-Falefa was given away, but he’s been back at third with Nick Gonzales playing shortstop lately. It seems like an unusual move, given that Triolo is probably only an adequate regular if he’s serving as an above average defensive shortstop. Gonzales, though, would also be a much more interesting regular if he proves he’s a quality shortstop. It won’t mean much for the long term if top prospect Konnor Griffin stays at shortstop, but if he eventually moves off the position, as most think he will, there are ramifications. For one, Gonzales at short would open up second base for Nick Yorke and maybe eventually Termarr Johnson next year.

After a good month of August, Reynolds has started slow in September, hitting just .200 in 14 games with one home run and 17 strikeouts. He’ll take a break with Nick Yorke moving from second base to right field, Nick Gonzales playing second base, and Cam Devanney in the lineup at third base.

It appears to be nothing more than a routine night off for the hard-hitting second baseman. Liover Peguero will start in his place and will bat seventh against Reds’ rookie right-hander Chase Burns on Friday evening in Pittsburgh.

He placed the ball well today. The four hits had xBAs of .460, .280, .140 and .060, and only his 104.6-mph groundball single in the second was hard hit. Gonzalez also had four hits in the 17-16 loss to the Rockies on Sunday, so he’s raised his average from .253 to .275 in three days this month.

Gonzales has gone ice-cold at the plate, batting just .182 (12-for-66) with one homer and four RBI over 18 games since the start of July. If the slump continues, it feels like only a matter of time before Pittsburgh is forced to move him out of the cleanup spot.

Apart from Gonzales, the Pirates’ offense was absent against Bryan Woo in this one. He had three of their five total hits and their only one that went for extra bases in a shutout loss. Quietly, Gonzales has been a highly productive hitter since returning from his fractured ankle with a .308 batting average and .835 OPS over more than 100 at-bats. He’s also regularly hit fourth in the Pirates’ order over the past two weeks.

Gonzalez gets a breather after making 14 consecutive starts at the keystone since June 13. It’ll be veteran utility specialist Adam Frazier taking over at second base. The 26-year-old infielder has been excellent of late, hitting .333 (20-for-60) with two homers and seven RBI over his last 15 games. There’s some appeal here for fantasy managers in extremely deep mixed leagues.

Gonzales finally got the Pirates on the board in the sixth inning, victimizing right-hander Freddy Peralta for a 395-foot (100.7 mph EV) three-run blast. That would wind up being the extent of their scoring in the contest. The 26-year-old infielder also struck out twice in the ballgame. On the season, he’s slashing a terrific .316/.345/.519 with three homers and 10 RBI in his first 84 plate appearances.