Édgar González (pitcher)

For other people named Edgar Gonzalez, see Edgar Gonzalez (disambiguation).

Édgar González
Free Agent – No. --
Pitcher
Bats: Right Throws: Right
debut
June 1, 2003, for the Arizona Diamondbacks
Career statistics (through September 22, 2009)
Win-Loss	14-24
Earned run average	5.83
Strikeouts	206
Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
Arizona Diamondbacks (2003-2008) Oakland Athletics (2009) LG Twins (2010 ~ present)

Édgar Gerardo González Elizondo (born February 23, 1983, in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México) is a Major League Baseball pitcher who is currently a Free Agent.

González signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks as a non-drafted free agent on April 18, 2000. When he did not report for his assignment in the Dominican Republic, he was placed on the suspended list for 2000-2001. Gonzalez was the sixth major leaguer from Monterrey, Nuevo León, México, joining Oscar Villarreal, Felipe Montemayor, Bobby Trevino, Hector Torres, and Alex Trevino. He was the 94th native of Mèxico to appear in the majors and the 53rd pitcher from Mèxico to work a big league game when he debuted with the Diamondbacks on June 1, 2003. At that time, he was the youngest pitcher in Major League Baseball, at 20 years old.

He throws a 4-seam fastball, slider, 2-seam fastball, and a changeup.

Minor leagues

2002 Single-A

He was assigned to Single-A South Bend Silver Hawks of the Midwest League. On April 14, in only his second professional start, he tossed a no-hitter against West Michigan for his first professional win. He didn't issue a walk and faced the minimum 27 batters because he picked off the only baserunner of the game (reached on an error). He was 11-8 with a 2.91 ERA and 110 sttrikeouts with South Bend before earning a promotion to the High-A Lancaster JetHawks of the California League in August, the last month of the season. He finished in Lancaster 3-0 with a 0.78 ERA and 21 strikeouts against 3 walks in 4 games started. His 14 victories in 2002 tied for second among Arizona minor leaguers. He was pitcher of the month of August in the Arizona farm system after combining 5-0 with a 1.18 combined in the two levels.

2003 Double-A and Triple-A

González was assigned to the Double-A El Paso Diablos of the Texas League. His stay at El Paso was a short one, with only 6 games started and going 2-2 with a 3.50 ERA before being called up early May to the Triple-A Tucson Sidewinders. He went 3-2 with Tucson before being called to the major league team for a brief stay. He finished the season at Tucson with a 8-7 record and a 3.75 ERA in 20 games. He was selected to participate in the All-Star Futures Game on July 13 in Chicago, working a scoreless frame for the World Team

2004 - 2006 with the Triple-A Tucson Sidewinders

In 2004, González started the year at Triple-A Tucson and was called up and sent down a couple of times during the season. He had a 5-5 record with a 4.88 ERA in 15 starts for Tucson.

In 2005, González pitched almost the complete year with the Sidewinders, except for a game with the Diamondbacks. He had a great season going 11-6 with a 4.37 ERA in 24 starts with Tucson, but most important his control improved greatly, he ended with 116 strikeouts and only 38 walks.

In 2006, González started his 4th season at Triple-A Tucson. He had a brief stint with the Diamondbacks at the end of June and start of July, but pitched most of the season in Tucson. He ended with a 3-8 record but with an ERA of 3.90, that earned him a September call up.

Major league career

2003

González was promoted on June 1, 2003, to face the San Diego Padres at Qualcomm Stadium. Arizona won the game 10-4 and he picked up his first major league win, pitching 5.2 innings allowing 10 hits for 3 runs and striking out 4. He also collected his first major league hit. He had another start on June 6 against the Indians at Arizona where he took his first loss before returning to Tucson. When the rosters expanded in September, he was called up and pitched in 7 games (all in relief). He finished the season with a 2-1 record and a 4.91 ERA.

2004

González had a rough year in the major leagues in 2004, mostly because pitching with a torn fingernail for most of the year ended his season short. In several stints with the big club, he ended with 0-9 record with a 9.32 ERA in 10 starts for the Diamondbacks. His best game came August 29 in Cincinnati were he took a no-hitter to the 7th inning and lost it to an infield hit by Felipe López and later lost the shutout to a home run by Adam Dunn.

2005

González had only one game in the major leagues in the 2005 season and it was on relief on June 10, one day after being called up. He allowed 4 runs in a third of an inning to leave an ERA of 108. He was demoted to Tucson on June 12.

2006

2006 was the redemption year for González. After a rough 2004 in MLB and spending almost the complete 2005 season in the minors, Edgar stated his case for a spot in the rotation for the next year. He was called up in June to replace in the rotation Russ Ortiz who was released. He pitched two good games (quality starts), but lost the two because of no run support. After Juan Cruz was activated from the disabled list, González was moved to the bullpen where he struggled to adapt and was demoted to Tucson on July 19 to continue to pitch as a starter. He returned to team on September and took the place in the rotation of struggling Enrique González. He had 3 starts in September, the 3 being excellent games, reaching 7 innings in two of them and not allowing more than 2 runs in each game. He ended the year 3-4 with an ERA of 4.22. His record as a starter were 2-3 with a 3.00 ERA.

2007

2007 was the first year González started the season with the major league club. He earned a spot in the rotation after going 5-0 during spring training. After Randy Johnson was activated from the disabled list, he lost his job to Micah Owings in a tight race. He spent the remainder of the season as the long reliever of the Diamondbacks and making spot starts. He was out of minor league options so he could not be sent to the minor leagues without exposing him to waivers.

2008

Eddy González began the 2008 season in the bullpen, but was moved into the starting rotation when starter Doug Davis was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. In five starts, he was 1-2 with a 6.55 ERA, averaging 4.4 innings per start. He then lost his starting job to Max Scherzer and was moved back to the bullpen after Scherzer pitched 4 1/3 innings of perfect relief for González on April 29.

2009

On February 9, 2009, González signed a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training with the Oakland Athletics. In October 2009 Gonzalez Was Granted Free Agency.

Winter baseball

In the winter, he plays in the Mexican Pacific League for the Naranjeros de Hermosillo. During the 2002-2003 season, when he was just 19 years old, he was named Rookie of the Year and Pitcher of the Year going 8-1 with a 1.89 ERA.

External links

• Career statistics from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs