Senior Greg Gonzalez’s wild ride is culminating in a phenomenal 2011 campaign
During Greg Gonzalez’s senior season at Capuchino High School, the right-handed pitcher didn’t even possess the best arm on the team.
On game days, Gonzalez took the field as an infielder, earning all-league honors as a shortstop in 2006 while leading his team with the most runs batted in. The pitcher’s mound seemed like miles away from his spot at shortstop.
But Gonzalez did occasionally take the mound when his team needed an extra arm. He topped off at 88 mph and was a somewhat reliable pitcher, but the need for him to pitch on a consistent basis wasn’t warranted.
After his senior year, no Division I programs came calling for the standout shortstop. No scholarship offers. Not even a walk-on spot. No one really knew the potential he had in store in his right arm.
“I was actually only asked to come to one junior college,” Gonzalez said.
It wasn’t until Gonzalez arrived at Skyline Junior College in his hometown of San Bruno, Calif., that coaches discovered the velocity and arm strength that he was capable of delivering.
“I think he just saw that I had some arm strength,” Gonzalez said of Dino Nomicos, his junior college coach at Skyline. “He kind of just took a shot with it. I think he kind of felt that he just saw something special in me.”
Nomicos rolled the dice with Gonzalez and it paid off as Gonzalez worked his way into the starting rotation. As a freshman, he struck out more batters than any other pitcher on the junior college level in California, leading the state with 160 strikeouts to garner All-American status.
His success would continue on the mound until baseball threw him a curve ball early into his sophomore season in 2008, when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament that ultimately ended his season, and forced him to use his medical redshirt year.
“I wasn’t really sure what to do,” Gonzalez said of his injury. “My trainer back at home told me, ‘Come back stronger than you were.’ And that really kind of drove me and ever since then, I have really taken my weight lifting, my running, my preparation more seriously.”
With a much more mature approach to the game, Gonzalez nearly mirrored his results as a sophomore, again leading all junior colleges in California in strikeouts with 152, and he was named for a second time as an All-American performer.
After two impressive years at Skyline, Division I coaches finally started to take note of Gonzalez’s dominance on the mound.
“When we got a chance to go see him, he was just a really competitive kid,” Bulldogs assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Pat Waer said. “At the time, it was plus change-up, plus curve ball and just attacked the zone with his fast ball. He was really good.”
But even with two standout seasons and a proven resume, Gonzalez still flew a little bit under the radar, Waer said. None of the bigger schools from the premier conferences extended a full-ride scholarship offer to Gonzalez. Only Western Athletic Conference programs Fresno State, Hawaii and New Mexico State anted up a spot on their rosters.
“I know I don’t really impress people, you know, just by my stature,” Gonzalez said, who measures in at 5-feet-11 and 190 pounds.
But for all the teams that made a pass on Gonzalez, he’s been making them pay ever since.
In his first year as a Bulldog last season, Gonzalez became the first Fresno State pitcher in 34 years to throw a no-hitter in his first collegiate start against Hawaii, a complete seven-inning game.
“It was definitely the high point of my career,” Gonzalez said of his no-hitter.
As a junior, Gonzalez developed into a quality starter finishing the season with an 8-2 record while making 21 appearances. Gonzalez led all Bulldog pitchers in strikeouts with 73, and finished second in the WAC in that same category, all while evolving into a first-team All-WAC pitcher.
With a year of Division I experience, Gonzalez is even better this season. He’s lowered his earned run average from 6.54 last year to a remarkable team-best 1.22 ERA as a senior. Gonzalez has given up only 10 earned runs through 73 and two-thirds innings. His record on the mound is unblemished at 7-0, and through 11 starts is leading the WAC in strikeouts with 88. He has been named four times this season as WAC Pitcher of the Week.
In his last outing against Hawaii on Friday, Gonzalez struck out 11 batters in just five innings of service, but the Bulldogs fell 6-5 in extra innings. It was his fourth game with double-digit strikeouts this year.
“He’s mature,” Waer said. “He understands what his strengths are. He understands how to attack hitters. He’s confident, but not arrogant. He has a great command mentally and emotionally of himself.”