Gonzales hoping to bring experience, improve culture in move to Pirates

Marco Gonzales has been in this spot before.

It wasn't that long ago that the Mariners were a young, rebuilding club, looking to take that leap to becoming competitive. Today, they have one of the best young cores in the American League, and while they fell short of the postseason last year, they look primed for more trips to October.

Gonzales was a big part of that rotation when the Mariners started to emerge from their rebuild. Now, he's tasked with doing it again with the Pirates.

"We went through a lot of growing stages in Seattle," Gonzales said to local media over Zoom Monday evening. "I'm no stranger to having a young team, a lot of influx, a lot of guys in and out the door. So that's nothing new to me. We've been through a lot of phases here with the Mariners. I'm looking forward to getting the chance to bring some experience, hopefully bring some things that I've learned in that process, and hopefully just impact the culture in a positive way."

Gonzales was the Pirates' biggest addition at last week's Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tenn., picking up the veteran lefty from the Braves for a player to be named later or cash considerations. It was actually the second time Gonzales had been traded during the meetings, being sent to Atlanta in a salary dump move on Dec. 3.

"Sunday night was a little bit of a roller coaster, to say the least," Gonzales said. "The couple days afterwards, when we were kind of in limbo just because we knew that we were probably gonna get moved again, I was fortunate that we got moved quickly and we weren’t in that stage for a while. Just so we can kind of get settled and get our feet under us a little bit."

A forearm injury cut Gonzales' season short, which with a $12 million price tag was enough for the Mariners to move on from him before the final guaranteed season of his contact. He recorded a 5.22 ERA over 10 starts last year, but was a reliable hand before that, averaging a 3.94 ERA from 2018-2022. The Pirates are on the hook for $3 million of Gonzales' salary, which given their need for starting pitching, makes sense.

After all, they have been in this spot before, too.

The Pirates are on a good run of picking up veteran, soft-tossing lefties of late, finding success with Tyler Anderson, José Quintana and Rich Hill the last three years. In the case of Anderson and Quintana, they were reclamation projects that went right.

"In all three of those case – and we’re getting to know Marco better now – there’s a common trait in that there’s a really elite competitor, guys are all left-handed, guys who obviously thrive on good execution, fastball execution, good changeups, use the breaking ball and know how to pitch," Ben Cherington said at the Winter Meetings. "When that kind of pitcher is feeling good physically and is healthy, which was the case with Tyler and José, and gets in our environment … Oscar [Marin] doesn’t have a history with those guys, but he does with Marco from being in Seattle. It would be certainly great if we got the same outcome."

Gonzales underwent surgery in August, but has been able to have a relatively normal offseason, splitting time between his physical therapy and going to Driveline, one of the most well-known baseball facilities in the country. He had tried them out when they were relatively new in 2015, but he was looking for a change to his usual structure.

"I’m not going to Driveline to chase velo," Gonzales said. "I’m going to Driveline to create a new routine for myself and learn new perspectives on pitching and gathering strength. If I do end up throwing a little bit harder, that would be great. But I’m looking for endurance, sustainability and health, first and foremost."

Velocity isn't necessarily Gonzales' strong point, averaging 89 mph on his four-seamer last year, but it was an effective pitch. Batters recording averages of .248 and .237 against his fastball in 2022 and 2021, respectively, and it was one of the most valuable pitches in the American League in the abbreviated 2020 campaign. Last year was a different story, and hitters had a .33 batting average and .556 slugging percentage against his fastball, which played a major role in his diminishing results.

While he has a plus changeup and has found some success with his breaking stuff of late, getting that fastball on track is going to be vital if he is going to regain his form from a couple years ago.

"With my fastball, I believe in it like it’s 95 [mph]," Gonzales said. "It might not be 95, but it has taken me a long ways. I’ve proven a lot of doubters wrong saying that I can’t be a guy who throws 90 in this league. I love being that guy. I think it’s a lost art in this game. I love being the guy who’s not 95 coming out and getting guys out. That’s what I plan to do."

The Pirates certainly need him to do just that if they are going to elevate themselves to a contender. They are still looking to add to the rotation this winter, but right now, Gonzales and Mitch Keller are the only established starters this team has.

If he can find his old form and eat innings, it would go a long way to the Pirates making a Mariners-like leap forward.

"I think I go out and set the tone for a team, take the ball every five days, and my goal is to put up at least 190, maybe even 200 innings this year," Gonzales said. "That's my goal. Make every start, be healthy and I know that I'm very, very capable of doing that. So that's I feel like where my best fit is and I hope that they agree with that."