Pirates Prospects

Pirates Prospect Watch: Nick Gonzales Slugs Third Homer In Arizona Fall League

Published

2 years ago

October 25, 2022

Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Nick Gonzales has been performing well in the Arizona Fall League and his strong showing continued on Monday afternoon.

The 2020 first-round draft pick hit his third homer of the AFL season, a solo shot to left-center field. The blast was the lone run for the Surprise Saguaros in their 2-1 loss to the Peoria Javelinas.

Nick Gonzales is showing off the power 💪

The @Pirates number five prospect swats his third homer of the season to tie it up in Peoria! #AFL22 pic.twitter.com/kd9Iky9fOp

— MLB's Arizona Fall League (@MLBazFallLeague) October 24, 2022

The 23-year-old Gonzales finished the game 1 for 4 with his home run and leads the team with three homers and 11 RBIs. On the year, Gonzales is batting .268 with a .911 OPS for Surprise.

The Arizona-native has enjoyed being back in his home state and is looking more and more comfortable at the plate after missing a couple months of minor league action due to plantar fasciitis.

In 71 games for Altoona this season, Gonzales hit .263 with an .812 OPS with 20 doubles and seven home runs.

A handful of other Pirates’ prospects also appeared in the game for the Saguaros.

Catcher Henry Davis went 1 for 3 with a single and raised his batting average to .303 on the AFL season. Fellow backstop Blake Sabol drew a walk in four plate appearances.

On the pitching side of things, right-hander Colin Selby tossed a scoreless eighth inning and picked up a strikeout. Selby lowered his ERA to an even 3.00.

Left-hander Omar Cruz took the loss after surrendering one run on three hits. He also recorded a punch out. It was the first loss for Cruz who is 1-1 with a 1.86 ERA in his stint in the Fall League.

Quinn Priester and Tahnaj Thomas were the only two Pirates’ prospects who did not appear in the contest for the Saguaros.

Surprise is currently in first place in the AFL with a record of 11-7 through 18 games to begin the season.