The Pittsburgh Pirates are promoting infielder Nick Gonzales ahead of today’s game against the Miami Marlins. The news was first reported by Jim Rosati of North Side Notch, and has been confirmed by multiple sources.
The 2020 first round pick has been playing for Triple-A Indianapolis this season, where he is hitting .257/.370/.450 over 57 games, with 14 doubles, five triples and six homers. He had an .812 OPS over 71 games for Altoona last year, while missing part of the season due to a heel injury.
The 24-year-old Gonzales was having major strikeouts issues early in the year, which has led to 75 strikeouts over 262 plate appearances for the season. However, he has greatly improved that rate in June, along with doubling his walk rate this month. He has a .901 OPS over 84 plate appearances in June.
Gonzales has made 33 starts this season at second base, 12 at third base and seven at shortstop. He played the same three spots in the 2022 Arizona Fall League, but he had no third base experience in pro ball during the 2021-22 regular seasons.
UPDATE: The Pirates have made the move official. Nick Gonzales has been added to the active roster ahead of Friday night’s game.
Outfielder Cal Mitchell was optioned to Indianapolis to make room on the 26-man roster.
Vince Velasquez, who is out for the season, was placed on the 60-day Injured List to make room on the 40-man roster.
Mitchell was called up earlier this week when Bryan Reynolds was sidelined with a bad back. Mitchell went 0-for-4 with a walk in two games. This was his first stint with the Pirates this year, after playing 69 big league games last year.
Gonzales is batting seventh and playing second base tonight.
Minor Minor League Moves
Only two moves in the minors for Friday and both of them are minor.
Indianapolis activated infielder Josh Bissonette ahead of today’s game. They lost Gonzales to the majors, so they brought back someone who was playing all three of his positions off of the bench.
Bissonette has been on the Development List. He’s hitting .231/.341/.282 in 23 games for Indianapolis this year.
Altoona placed infielder Norkis Marcos on the Development List. The Curve received Tsung-Che Cheng on Thursday, so he will be playing regularly, pushing Marcos from the bench to the sidelines for now.
Marcos went 2-for-12 with nine strikeouts for Altoona.
