January 23, 2009 6:50 PM
Carlos Gonzalez arrives
Carlos Gonzalez finally made it to Denver on Thursday night, just in time to participate in the final day of the Rockies three-week winter development program on Friday.
Gonzalez, who was acquired from Oakland in November in the trade that sent Matt Holliday to the A's, was detained by winter ball in Venezuela, where he was in the playoffs with Zulia. That was by no means bad, and not just because Gonzalez was getting addition at-bats. Zulia, which is the name of one of Venezuela's 23 states, plays its games in Maracaibo, where Gonzalez was born and lives. So he had the chance to stay and visit with his family and have them watch him play.
Upon meeting Gonzalez, 23, one is immediately struck by his effervescence and his impressive command of English. He worked hard to cut down his strikeouts in winter ball, and I can't help but think that in spring training, he will thrive working with new Rockies hitting coach Don Baylor. In 1992, Baylor was the St. Louis hitting coach and had a tremendous impact on young outfielders Bernard Gilkey and Ray Lankford. They both had more experience in the big leagues at that point, particularly Lankford, than Gonzalez currently does (85 games and 302 at-bats with Oakland last year).
The last few days have been a whirlwind for Gonzalez. He flew from Venezuela on Thursday, arrived in Denver that night, worked out today and will stay over the weekend for the Rockies fanfest before leaving Monday for Venezuela.
"It's kind of crazy, but I think this is a baseball player life," Gonzalez said. "I'm here and tomorrow I'm in a different place. I feel comfortable with this life."
January 25, 2009
8:49 PM
joe writes:
Carlos had an impressive winter season during the very very demanding Venezuela winter league, plenty of big leaguers, tough latino players, sold out attendance in stadiums and big presence in the media.
He became a leader in the Aguilas team (Eagles), managed by Eddie Perez, bench coach and one of the favorites of Atlanta Braves.
Carlos can bring everything, excellent range in center field, powerful arm, pop at bat, speed. We believe he can be really helpful in Colorado.
January 27, 2009
6:13 AM
ColoradoSportsfanTexas writes:
I am not ready to jump on the Carlos Gonzalez bandwagon yet...I still have my doubts about this kid...
Arizona and Oakland both traded this guy, which leads me to question, why?? Both of these clubs were desperate for power bats, and yet both tried Gonzalez, and both eventually traded him....If this kid was the next greatest 5-tool superstar that he was being hyped to be, than why would they give up on him?? I can only surmise that this guy is either overrated, or underachieving...His value seems to be up to this point, is that he has enough talent to tempt a team to get him, but he has so far not lived up to expectations, which makes him trade bait...
Perhaps I will be proven wrong, but as if now, color me skeptical....
If
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2:31 AM
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July 1, 2012
1:39 PM
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September 15, 2012
2:55 AM
1040881 writes:
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September 23, 2012
4:48 PM
1242306 writes:
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