Marco Gonzales, now clubhouse veteran, has been model of consistency for Mariners
Marco Gonzales was masterful in Seattle’s 2022 home opener on Friday night, completely stifling a vaunted Houston Astros lineup in the Mariners’ 11-1 win in front of a sellout crowd at T-Mobile Park.
“Getting ahead in the count, throwing five different pitches for strikes and pitching with a little bit of a chip on my shoulder,” Gonzales said. “These guys have smacked me around for a long time, so it felt good to stick it to them a little bit.”
After a disastrous first start of the season in Minnesota — in which Gonzales lasted just two innings, giving up six runs (two earned) and three home runs on six hits — it was a welcome return to form.
“I think it’s just a point in the season where there’s gotta be no panic,” Gonzales said. “Just put your head down and go to work. After the last outing, a disappointing way to start and I just went to work and executed and was fortunate to get the results that I got.”
Gonzales allowed just one run and four hits in seven innings, striking out six and walking none. Mariners manager Scott Servais wasn’t surprised to see Gonzales bounce back.
“I felt very confident coming into the game today that he would make an adjustment,” Servais said. “His stuff was so much crisper, just so aggressive early in the strike zone. We love to see that. That’s who Marco is. We needed him to come back strong and he did that tonight.”
It doesn’t feel that long ago that the lefty was brought over to Seattle in a trade with Saint Louis.
It’s hard to believe that trade went down in 2017. A lot has happened between then — pandemic, anyone? — and now, nearly five years later. Gonzales, 30, has transitioned from a new face in the rotation to a veteran in the clubhouse.
Perhaps more significantly, he has been a model of consistency on the mound and a recognizable face of a franchise that has gone through a rebuilding process since he arrived. His play has been everything general manager Jerry Dipoto could have hoped for when he sent minor league outfielder Tyler O’Neill to the Cardinals for Gonzales, the 19th overall pick in the 2013 MLB Draft.
Though Gonzales was just 25 when he was traded to Seattle, questions loomed over his long-term durability. He missed much of 2015 with shoulder problems, then the entirety of 2016 with Tommy John surgery. Seattle saw something in Gonzales though, and the recent injury history didn’t scare the Mariners off.
Fast forward to today: He’s one of just 11 Major League Baseball pitchers to post a sub-4.00 earned run average while pitching at least 60 innings of each of the past three seasons (3.96 last season). He has thrown at least 143 innings in each of Seattle’s full-length seasons between 2018 and 2021 and had a career-low 3.10 ERA in the 2020 covid-shortened season.
“He’s a mainstay, the experience (he has),” said 25-year-old pitcher Logan Gilbert. “He knows all about Seattle baseball and just holding down the starting staff and he’s kind of the guy we’ve looked to over the past — since I’ve been here last year — but even before that. Just a guy that knows how to do it. He’s been around.”
Gonzales, a Gonzaga University grad, isn’t hitting triple digits on the radar gun anytime soon. He doesn’t blow hitters away with raw power — his fastball averages 88 miles per hour — but he keeps batters uncomfortable, off balance and commands the strike zone.
“Nine times out of 10, he’s going out there and he’s a magician with the ball,” said catcher Tom Murphy. “He has total command of all his pitches at all times. When you get a guy like that, it’s really fun from a catcher’s perspective because you can attack a lineup exactly how you need to. Sometimes you’re forced to do only what a pitcher can do, but Marco has the ability to do whatever he wants. That’s really what separates him.”
Gonzales said it was probably one of the five best games he’s shared with catcher Tom Murphy, in terms of rapport.
“Just kept me in a good rhythm, gave me confidence to throw every pitch and we were ahead in the count and that makes it easy,” Gonzales said. “I think I shook maybe three times and when I did, he knew what to put down. We were clicking from the beginning, which was great.”
Gonzales used his entire arsenal of sinker, changeup, curveball, cutter and a 4-seam fastball effectively against the Astros, generating a 33 percent whiff rate on his curve.
He’s starting to look like a major bargain for the Mariners, too. He signed a four-year, $30 million extension in 2020, with a club option for 2025. That figure pales in comparison to the cash the Mariners just handed out to reigning American League Cy Young winner Robbie Ray (five years, $115 million).
While Ray was the Opening Day starter in Minnesota last week, the rotation scheduled allowed Gonzales the nod to start the home opener, an honor his teammates feel is well deserved.
“He’s earned it,” Gilbert said. “He’s been around for a while and that’s a guy you trust to go out there and give you a chance to win.”
This story was originally published April 15, 2022 at 10:55 PM.
