Oscar González (baseball)

Oscar Luis González (born January 10, 1998) is a Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2022.

Oscar González
González with the Cleveland Guardians in 2023
Cleveland Guardians – No. 39
Outfielder
Born: (1998-01-10) January 10, 1998
Sabana Grande de Palenque, Dominican Republic
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
MLB debut
May 26, 2022, for the Cleveland Guardians
MLB statistics
(through 2023 season)
Batting average.269
Home runs13
Runs batted in55
Teams

Professional career

Minor Leagues

González signed as an international free agent with the Cleveland Indians on July 2, 2014, for a $300,000 signing bonus.[1][2] He played for the DSL Indians in 2015, hitting .203/.266/.324/.590 with 4 home runs and 38 runs batted in.[3]

González with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers in 2017

González split the 2016 season between the AZL Indians and the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, hitting a combined .297/.340/.554/.894 with 8 home runs and 26 runs batted in.[4] He was named the 2016 Arizona League most valuable player.[5] He spent the 2017 season with Mahoning Valley, hitting .283/.301/.388/.689 with 3 home runs and 34 runs batted in.[3]

González spent the 2018 season with the Lake County Captains, hitting .292/.310/.435/.745 with 13 home runs and 52 runs batted in.[6] He split the 2019 season between the Lynchburg Hillcats and the Akron RubberDucks, hitting a combined .293/.315/.418/.733 with 9 home runs and 70 runs batted in.[3] He did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

González elected free agency on November 7, 2021, and re-signed with the Indians to a minor league contract the same day.

Major Leagues

The Guardians selected González's contract on May 26, 2022.[7] He made his major league debut that same day, starting in right field versus the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. He singled on a line drive to center field off starting pitcher Tarik Skubal in the top of the second his for the first hit. In the ninth inning, he hit his first major league double.[8] On June 10, 2022, versus the Oakland Athletics, González achieved his first major league four-hit game.[9] González became the Guardians' starting right fielder by the end of the regular season.[10] His walk-up song is the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song, chosen because "deep inside I feel like a kid".[11] On June 19, González hit his first career home run off of Los Angeles Dodgers starter Andrew Heaney.[12]

On October 8, 2022, González hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 15th inning to eliminate the Tampa Bay Rays from the 2022 American League Wild Card Series and send the Guardians to the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees.[13] In the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 3 of the ALDS, with the bases loaded and two outs, González hit a walk-off single to give the Guardians a 2-1 series lead.[14] The Guardians would go on to lose the series in 5 games. During the 2022 Playoffs, Gonzalez hit .226 with 4 runs batted in and 1 home run.

See also

References
  1. Matt Bretz (July 2, 2014). "Indians: International Signing Day". BelieveLandBall. FanSided. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  2. Jason Lukehart (July 3, 2014). "Indians sign six players on first day of international free agency". Lets's Go Tribe. SB Nation. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  3. "Oscar González stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  4. Mark Nikolov (February 3, 2017). "Oscar Gonzalez: A Man Among Young Men". 247Sports.com. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  5. "Arizona League announces 2016 All-Stars". MiLB.com. August 30, 2016. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  6. Noah Cloonan (March 29, 2019). "Carolina Clubs: Lynchburg Hillcats". Beachbound & Down. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  7. McDonald, Darragh (May 26, 2022). "Guardians designate Yu Chang, select Oscar Gonzalez". MLB Trade Rumors.
  8. Flemish, Karen (May 26, 2022). "Gonzalez shows off all 5 tools in MLB debut". MLB.com. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  9. Wild, Tommy (June 10, 2022). "Oscar Gonzalez continues his hot streak with four hit night". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  10. "Oscar Gonzalez finding his September groove at the right time: Guardians takeaways". 15 September 2022.
  11. Chavkin, Daniel (October 7, 2022). "Why Guardians' Oscar Gonzalez Uses SpongeBob Theme as Walk-Up Song". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  12. "Oscar Gonzalez's first career HR | 06/19/2022". MLB.com.
  13. "Guardians beat Rays on Oscar Gonzalez walk-off". 8 October 2022.
  14. Bell, Mandy. "Another Oscar winner! Guardians walk off, take 2-1 ALDS lead". MLB.com.
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