Sunday, June 23, 2013

Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez Scouting Report

Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, originally from Cuba, has been declared a free agent by Major League Baseball. A 25-26 (I read two different ages) year old right-handed pitcher, he is listed at 6-2 185. There aren't good scouting reports available online from what I can find, but the Dodgers and the Cubs are interested, along with some other teams that have been watching him throw.

Statistically, the last year I can find that he played in the professional league in Cuba is 2009-2010. He had a ERA 2.13 better than league average, 6.99 K/9IP (19.2 K%), and 3.9 BB% (1.45 BB/9IP). League Average that year was 5.0 K/9IP and 3.83 BB/9IP. So Gonzalez was a lot better than league average, but when comparing him to other professional Cuban pitchers that came to the states, his strikeout rate is still pedestrian.

Reports are that he has a fastball, changeup, forkball, and curveball. This is the only video I can find of Gonzalez, and is what I used to write this article.

He really looks lanky in the video, but at his age, you don't expect him to really add weight. He seems to be able to locate his fastball low or high. It looks a little straight up high and the velocity doesn't look plus, but seems workable. He showed he can get in on lefties and break bats.

The change movement doesn't look great, but it looks like he gets on top of the curveball well. I wish I could see more of those two pitches. The forkball looks more like a splitter than the traditional forkball (at least compared to the ones you see in Japan) with quite a bit of arm side movement before dropping (almost looking like some kind of 2-seam hybrid).

Statistically, he had good command, and when teams see him throwing, they will obviously know his velocity, and without having very good readings,  it is hard to really speak to his ceiling or placement in a rotation in the Majors. He does seem to have at least two big league pitches, and should be able to pitch in the big leagues, but how effectively I can't really speak to.

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