Alex Gonzalez Scouting Report

Alex Gonzalez Scouting Report: Alex Gonzalez ranked #4 on the LSB Community Prospect Rankings.

In the days leading up to Opening Day, I'm going to offer write-ups on the 31 players who made the Rangers' LSB Community Prospect Rankings Top 31. I've done this the last couple of years, and I don't want to re-invent the wheel, so some of this will be a repeat of what I've written before, particularly regarding draft history or performance pre-2013. Also, this is not based on my personal observations -- I'm not a scout, and haven't seen most of these guys. I'm just aggregating the numbers and what others say about these players.

So, with that out of the way, let's take a look at Alex Gonzalez...

Alex "Chi Chi" Gonzalez was the Rangers' first round draft choice in 2013, a 6'2", 195 lb. righthanded pitcher out of Oral Roberts University. Baseball America ranked Gonzalez as the #19 prospect in the 2013 draft.

Gonzalez signed quickly and was assigned to Spokane in the Northwest League. He struggled early, giving up 15 runs in his first 13 pro innings, spread over six games, but then settled down and allowed just 1 run over his final 10.1 IP before being promoted to high-A Myrtle Beach. Gonzalez appeared in five games for the Pelicans, once again having some bumps early, allowing 7 runs over 7 innings in his first two games, then allowing just a single run over 12 innings in his final three outings. Overall, Gonzalez had a 3.80 ERA in his first pro season, striking out 35 and walking 16 in 42.2 innings.

Gonzalez didn't make the top 100 lists for Keith Law or MLB.com, but he did come in at #70 on the Baseball Prospectus list. On the various Ranger top 10 lists, Gonzalez was 6th in the Baseball America list, 3rd on Keith Law's list, and 3rd on the BP list.

Gonzalez's repertoire consists of a low-90s fastball with cutting action, a slider, and a changeup. He's not a huge ceiling guy, but he's a strike thrower who has a starter's repertoire and is seen as a potential #3 starter. While Gonzalez could start the season in high-A Myrtle Beach, my guess is he'll be in AA Frisco at the beginning of the season. Given that he's an advanced college draftee, he could be contributing in the majors in 2015.