St. Louis Cardinals: Marco Gonzales called up to pitch

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St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Marco Gonzales is going to join the team to start game two of Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers according to Alex Ferrario from KMOX.

This will be the return to the St. Louis Cardinals for Marco Gonzales who underwent Tommy John surgery last year.  It was in February that he began to rehab and work his way back to throwing.  Information on that can be found here.

The young lefty has shown promise since being drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals as the 19th overall pick in 2013.  In fact, since recovering from his torn UCL he has been named the number-19 prospect in the organization according to MLB Pipeline.

After a year off due to surgery, the organization wanted to start Gonzales slowly, so he started the year advanced-A Palm Beach.  He started one game there striking out seven over six innings while giving up only two hits.

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After one start he made the jump to triple-A Memphis.  He carries a 1-3 record through five starts. He also carries a 3.26 ERA and twenty-four strikeouts over 30.1 innings at this level.  This is not encouraging, but also not scary.

Gonzales has thrown 37.1 overall innings for the St. Louis Cardinals.  These innings have come during three different stints from 2014-2016.  These have earned an ERA of 4.82 with thirty-four strikeouts.

The St. Louis Cardinals are hoping to see what one of their top prospects looks like against Major League hitting while also throwing extra rest in for the usual starters.  This doesn’t look like it will be an extended stay, just a spot start. That doesn’t mean he won’t stay up if he performs well, but it will most likely be in a bullpen role as opposed to the starting rotation.

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This will not only be an opportunity for St. Louis to see Gonzales, but it will also really be the first chance since the UCL tear for Gonzales to show what he can do.  It will be interesting to see the lefty vs. lefty match-up of Marco Gonzales and Eric Thames.