Why is Nick Gonzales Struggling to Make Contact?

ALTOONA, Pa. – We might be starting to finally see the real Nick Gonzales.

Two years after being drafted by the Pirates with the seventh overall pick, Gonzales is making his way back from his latest injury.

This time, his plantar fascia was torn in half, after coming down wrong on the first base bag.

Last year, he dealt with a broken pinky.

The injuries aren’t in a nature that would make Gonzales “injury prone”. They have prevented him from developing his game.

“I want to play more than 40 games at a time,” Gonzales said.

Prior to the injury this year, Gonzales was starting to make some adjustments with his swing. Originally drafted due to his strong ability to make contact, Gonzales opened the season in Altoona hitting for a low average, with a high strikeout rate.

“We definitely made adjustments, and we were looking at a lot of video,” said Gonzales of the time before the injury. “Some stuff that showed up this season that didn’t really show up all of my life.”

A big issue was that Gonzales wasn’t keeping his bat through the zone long enough. He has one of the quickest bats I’ve ever seen, and his hand-eye skills give him the ability to make contact. Gonzales has the tendency to dip his bat in and out of the zone quickly, which has brought on the contact issues.

“That’s definitely what it was,” said Gonzales. “That’s why I was hitting the ball to right field really good, but nothing to the pull side. Missing pitches I should hit, and fouling off pitches I should do damage with, and swinging and missing at stuff I should fight off or at least put in play.”

Gonzales noted that the stuff he’s faced this year is no different than what he saw last year, or what he faced in the Arizona Fall League. The pitchers at the Double-A level are more precise, and can throw three pitches for strikes. That shouldn’t be an issue for a first rounder who was drafted on contact skills.

Part of the adjustment the Pirates are making with Gonzales has to do with his zone of attack.

“He’s a type of guy who always used right-center field really well,” said Altoona hitting coach Jon Nunnally. “I said get used to use the middle of the field to go right-center. Even left-side of the batter’s eye. Take the left-eye of the batter’s eye, and you hunt and drive things through there, and you may get something that you can drive into left-center.”

Gonzales has a tendency to uppercut his swing, which leads to him swinging over breaking pitches that drop out of the zone.

Today on @pirateprospects I'm writing about Nick Gonzales and an issue he's had with an uppercut at the end of his swing, impacting his ability to hit low breaking pitches. Here's a look at the swing from the side. pic.twitter.com/T3CENtCT0Q

— Tim Williams (@TimWilliamsP2) August 23, 2022

Gonzales is seeing how pitchers are attacking him differently, using the same stuff and more consistency. The Pirates want him making sure that his swing is still efficient, and can do damage. That might involve consistently getting more extension with his arms. The photo above is from when Gonzales hit a double. You can see that his arms are more extended out, continuing his swing path, as compared to the quick upper cut in the video above.

The video is recent, and Gonzales still has a tendency to swing over breaking pitches. He has been adjusting to this, and showing more promising results. Since returning from his injury, Gonzales is hitting .333/.436/.515. Those are the types of numbers you’d expect to see from the first rounder. We may just not have seen him get enough time to develop, due to the injuries.

“I don’t think I’ve played a consistent amount of games,” said Gonzales. “I’m really excited to just play 140 games in one year, and making my adjustments.”

The ability that made him a first rounder is still there. What we’re seeing now might be a sign that those abilities are starting to develop into Major League abilities.

“He’s got some quick hands. He’s going to be special,” said Nunnally. “That’s the whole key in trying to get him working through the baseball, instead of in and out of the zone, especially with offspeed pitches.”