Marlins add to pitching depth by signing Hialeah’s Gio Gonzalez to minor-league deal
The Miami Marlins have added a homegrown veteran to its starting pitching corps.
The Marlins signed Hialeah native and 13-year MLB veteran Gio Gonzalez to a minor-league deal with an invite to MLB spring training, a source confirmed to the Miami Herald on Wednesday. He will have to go through the COVID-19 intake process before reporting to camp, so it will be a few days before he begins working out with the club at their spring training complex in Jupiter. Once he clears intake, the Marlins will have 73 players in camp.
Gonzalez, 35, is a two-time All-Star with a career 3.70 ERA over 344 games (328 starts). The left-handed pitcher made at least 27 starts over nine consecutive seasons from 2010 to 2018 while playing for the Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals and Milwaukee Brewers. He missed time in 2019 due to left-arm fatigue, making 17 starts for the Brewers, and played in 12 games (four starts) for the Chicago White Sox in 2020.
Gonzalez’s signing bolsters a Marlins’ starting pitching staff highlighted by young yet talented pitchers. Their projected starting rotation — Sandy Alcantara, Pablo Lopez, Elieser Hernandez, Sixto Sanchez and one of Trevor Rogers, Nick Neidert, Braxton Garrett and Daniel Castano — are all 26 years old or younger.
Prior to being drafted by the White Sox in 2004 and making his MLB debut for the Athletics in 2008, Gonzalez won two state high school baseball championships with Hialeah High and finished his preps career at Monsignor Pace.
This story was originally published March 3, 2021 at 8:58 AM.
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