What can Oscar Gonzalez be?

When I was first introduced to Oscar Gonzalez — as a player, I’ve never met the kid, though he seems nice — I didn’t think much of him. He wasn’t a prospect that had gotten much of any chatter, and looking at his numbers in the minors I just figured he was cut from the same cloth as Bobby Bradley or Franmil Reyes. Yet another in a line of big, hulking dudes who hit the ball hard and just love to swing the bat.

He never walked more than about 5% of the time in the minors and even being 6-foot-4, 240, he never evinced much power either. So when he broke out early and hit .303/.336/.450 in his first month in the majors, I wasn’t really bought in much about him being any kind of real fixture…