Johan Santana, Dan Uggla, Josh Hamilton all have one thing in common, the are all superstars that were exchanged via the Rule-5 Draft. So, when on the day of the 2008 Rule-5 draft, ESPN’s Keith Law was posed with the following question:
Ken, Philly: Any shockers in the Rule 5 draft today?
Keith Law: Not
really. Most interesting guy is Miguel Gonzalez, taken by Boston from
the Angels. Missed the year, throwing very well in Mexico, avg to above
avg fastball with plus command.
And so, the next question is who is this Miguel Gonzalez and why is he the most interesting one out of dozens selected?
Miguel Gonzalez is a 24-year old, right-handed pitcher out of Mexico, signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Angels in 2005. A reliever most of his career until his standout season of 2007 where he made 19 starts for AA-Arkansas of the Texas League and had an 8-4 record with 130.7 IP and a 3.38 ERA. That performance was enough to garner him with two pitcher of the week awards as well as Mid and Post-Season all-star nominations.
That season followed with disappointment in 2008, where Miguel sat out the entire season with a knee injury. Now with Venados de Mazatlan of the Mexican Winter Leauge, and from the looks of it, he seems back to form, if not better. Sporting an ERA of 1.52 in 7 starts and 4 relief appearances, with a 4-1 record and a 4:1 K/BB Ratio.
With numbers like that in his comeback already and with a low 90’s fastball with “excellent command” and good command of a slider and change up, the Red Sox may be able to groom him into a very good middle of the rotation starter, or a solid reliever. No matter what the case may be, the potential in him looks to be very good, and may end up being mentioned in the same list of names of great Rule-5’ers in recent memory.
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