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June 1, 2025: Player Profile
Madison Chronicle
Chris Elliott, Staff Columnist
Continuing a regular feature, I will profile a player on the Greenies Roster
Fernando Gonzalez, 1B
Fernando Gonzalez is a 24 year old 1B in his 2nd full season in the ABL. The hulking 6’6”, 230 lbs man excels in the batter’s box. He is above average at every hitting skill, though he walks less than the league average. This season, he has seen early success, and his batting average has hovered around .400 all year long. It sits exactly at that mark today. Gonzalez has little foot speed, but makes up for it by being an above average baserunner and can be an excellent base-stealer if the pitcher and catcher fall asleep on him. For all of his grace in the batter’s box, Gonzalez is not a natural in the field. He struggles in the field and is limited to being a well below average first basemen. Nonetheless, in an effort to get his and Lindemans bats in the lineup at the same time, Miller has started Gonzalez in LF on a few occasions this year.
Gonzalez was one of the most sought after international free agents out of his native Mexico during the 2017 season, and signed with Indianapolis for $1.84M as a 16 year old. He spent the rest of that season and 2018 honing his skills in their international complex. In 2019, he came stateside and began his career in R ball. Madison caught a glimpse of him and immediately liked what they saw. They traded young SP Jon Harris straight up for Gonzalez. Harris pitched well down the stretch, but Indianapolis missed the playoffs by 3 games and he was traded after the season.
Once in the Madison system, Gonzalez did nothing but hit at every level. As he continued to fill out, he displayed more power potential than was initially thought. Among the highlights from his minor league career include hitting for the cycle (7/4/20), a 27 game hitting streak (7/1/21), 3 player of the week awards, 1 player of the month award, and 3 all-star appearances. After spending all of 2022 in AAA Laredo, making the AAA all-star team, and batting .327, he got a late season call-up for his first experience with the big club. Because of a logjam at 1B, was used mostly as a pinch hitter and only accumulated 18 ABs. That offseason, Madison dealt 1B Steven Hollingsworth and kept 1B Jorge Ortiz. That meant Gonzalez was once again ticketed for AAA. He responded by unanimously winning the AAA Hitter of the Year crown with a .344 average and 41 HRs. Like the previous season, he spent the last few weeks in Madison. However, the monster year in AAA forced Madison GM Phil Connors’s hand, and Jorge Ortiz was dealt in the offseason to give him sole rights to the 1B job.
2023 was frustrating for Gonzalez on a personal level. He missed 2 weeks with a concussion after being hit by a pitch, and shortly after returning, was hit with another pitch and missed 1.5 months with a fractured thumb. In between, he still managed to put up solid numbers to help Madison make the playoffs for the 1st time since 2017. Waiver claim 1B Gabor Lindemans impressed in Gonzalez’s absence and seems to have found his niche as RH platoon partner and defensive replacement.
On a young team, Gonzalez is considered one of the leaders. He commands the respect of his teammates. His production at the plate certainly can’t hurt the cause. Like many of his teammates, Gonzalez is making the minimum this year and will not be eligible for arbitration until after the 2026 season. The young building block has flirted with .400 all year long. Though a long way off, he has a chance to break the ABL record of .389, set by Maximo Castillo in 2016.
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