Marwin Gonzalez has been great

Marwin Gonzalez has been a pleasant surprise this season. Still only 25 years old, the former Rule 5 draftee seems to be coming into his own as a big-leaguer. Gonzalez has been outstanding at a premium defensive position, shortstop, and has also been providing some offense of late.

Gonzalez has been flashing some serious leather recently, and has now played 15 consecutive games without making an error. Marwin has committed only six miscues in 296 chances this season. In 161 career big league games at shortstop, Gonzalez has made only 20 errors.

Gonzalez is also having his best year as a hitter. He currently boasts a .264/.312./386 slash line. I know that’s not all that impressive, but it’s an improvement over his minor league career line of .260/.306/.355. Plus, shortstop is a defensive position. Any manager would be happy with those numbers coupled with the level of defense Gonzalez plays.

Marwin is a fun player to watch. Not only does he produce plenty of highlight reel material in the field, the differences in his batting styles from each side of the plate are intriguing. A career .250/293/.369  hitter from the left side, Gonzalez has historically struggled as a right-handed hitter (.202/.244/.250). This season he has fared better from the right side, hitting .306 in 36 at-bats.

But Marwin has done most of his damage as a left-handed hitter. All six of his homers and 19 of his 20 RBIs have come batting left-handed. Pitchers have had trouble getting a fastball past Marwin’s unique left-handed batting stance lately. Holding his hands low and close to his body, Marwin is able to uncoil in a hurry and has hurt a few good fastballs along the way.

With right-hander Nick Tepesch on the mound for the Rangers tonight, Marwin finds himself in the leadoff spot in Bo Porter‘s batting order.