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When I interviewed Marco Gonzales in spring training 2018, the now 32-year-old Pittsburgh Pirates southpaw was with the Seattle Mariners and about to establish himself as a solid big league starter. We discussed his return to health — he’d undergone Tommy John surgery two years prior — as well as his repertoire. We also touched on his approach on the mound, a subject we’d earlier addressed in a 2014 conversation when he was a St. Louis Cardinals pitching prospect. At the time, Gonzales was your prototypical crafty lefty, and he’s remained just that throughout his career.
The former Mariners’ player rep for the MLBPA has a lot of opinions on the game he’s played professionally since 2013, when the Cardinals drafted him 19th overall out of Gonzaga University. Not surprisingly, the increase in arm injuries is of particular interest, as is the pitch clock.
Gonzales, who has since landed on the 15-day injured list with a left forearm muscle strain, sat down to discuss those topics at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park earlier this month.
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David Laurila: We talked back in 2018 when you were with the Mariners. Are you the same pitcher now that you were then?
Marco Gonzales: “No. You’re never the same pitcher you were, even if you think you are. You might have a similar identity — you always have an identity as a player — but you change physically, emotionally, mentally. Your maturity on the mound changes. Your thought process changes, and in turn, that changes what you can do on the mound.
“The pitches I throw haven’t added or subtracted, but how I think about them, how they move, and how I’ve used them has changed a lot. Year to year, week to week, there are changes. That’s part of baseball. For whatever reason, sometimes a pitch doesn’t come out the same way it usually does and you have to use it differently, or maybe manipulate it more.”
Laurila: How much have the changes been data driven?
Gonzales: “That’s a great question. I would say that in the last couple of years, it’s become more data driven. However, there is always an organic development, and an organic learning. As a human being and a competitor, you’re constantly growing and changing, so there is an organic part to it.”
Laurila: That said, what has been your most notable data-driven change?
Gonzales: “I would say my cutter. I’m always aware of what the horizontal movement is. I want it to cut — I want it to go in to a righty — and when it’s not cutting, maybe I’m not finishing it right, or maybe the grip needs to change slightly. It’s just little adjustments here and there.”
Laurila: Can you feel subtle differences in baseballs?
Gonzales: “If you’re an expert in something, you notice a difference. Right? You notice different weights. You notice different dimensions of seams. I don’t know the interior of the baseball, but the exterior has changed. The seams used to be very, very small, very, very tight. It was almost like a cue ball. It was a very, very smooth feeling; you didn’t really feel the seams. Now they have ridges. The aerodynamics of it, the way the ball travels — I mean, that’s going to change it. I don’t know how much it’s affected me, but I do know that your pitches tend to change sometimes. You can see it in the data.
“I’ve probably held a million baseballs in my life. I mean, as a person who holds a lot of balls — for lack of better words — I can tell you very minuscule details that are different. I have to. Think about how precise we have to be with throwing them, how much we have to spin and locate — especially for a pitcher like myself. I don’t throw overly hard, so I have to be precise. I have to rely on movement [and] deception. So, of course I know every inch of that baseball.”
Laurila: You’re atypical to the current trend in that you’re a… soft tosser is maybe not the right way to put it.
Gonzales: “Crafty. But yes, I throw 90. I’m a dying breed.”
Laurila: With that in mind, a number of guys who do throw really hard have been going down with elbow injuries. At the same time, you had Tommy John surgery despite not being a hard thrower.
Gonzales: “Yes, I had TJ in 2016. I mean, look, we pushed back on reducing the clock this year. We — the players — pushed back on initiating the clock, and we pushed back again this year when they wanted to decrease the time on the clock. Each time, MLB has overpowered our vote and went on with it. We raised serious safety concerns over the decrease in time. There are guys that need more time, or at least need to not be rushed. Especially in between innings for relievers. We pushed back on that too, and they decreased it.
“The Players Association has [four out of 11] votes. I don’t know if people know that or not. Rule changes are a [majority] vote. We voted unanimously no on all of the new rules this year, and they went through. I think there should be more accountability with changes to the game.
“So, I think that it would be foolish to not look at that as a primary concern. That’s one of the biggest changes to pitchers in this game, introducing the clock. We’re seeing a [rise] in injuries. I think that correlates.”
Laurila: Do you buy the idea that the rise of splitters and/or sweepers is a contributing factor?
Gonzales: “Look, guys throw harder and spin the ball faster than ever before. Guys are getting bigger and stronger — guys are learning how to get bigger and stronger — and that’s another thing. If you throw harder, and you spin the ball faster, well, that is more taxing on your arm. I’m not saying that’s not the primary cause, either. I think there are multiple causes. I also think it can be different for each individual person.
“It can happen to anybody. Throwing a baseball overhand isn’t healthy, no matter how hard you throw. But it would be foolish to not look at the pitch clock and the changes in training. With the baseballs themselves, it would be intriguing to do further investigation into how baseballs have evolved in this game and what effect that has on arms.”
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