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St. Louis Cardinals: Marco Gonzales Opts for Tommy John Surgery

By Eric Roseberry

Sep 1, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Marco Gonzales (56) is removed from the game after giving up four earned runs to the Washington Nationals during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 1, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Marco Gonzales (56) is removed from the game after giving up four earned runs to the Washington Nationals during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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The St. Louis Cardinals lost another pitcher to Tommy John surgery for the remainder of the 2016 season in starter Marco Gonzales.

On Wednesday Derrick Goold tweeted that St. Louis Cardinals starter Marco Gonzales will opt for Tommy John surgery. The procedure will keep Gonzales out for the rest of the 2016 season. As Steve Adams notes, this is the second Cardinals starter in the past few months (Lance Lynn) who will require the surgery.

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Gonzales was initially drafted out of high school by the Colorado Rockies in 2010, but he opted to attend Gonzaga. In 2013 he was drafted again, this time by the St. Louis Cardinals. Over the three-year period between drafts he went from a 29th-round pick to a 1st-round pick. After last season Baseball America rated Gonzales as the 5th-best prospect in the Cardinals’ farm system. MLB Pipeline currently ranks him as the Cardinals’ 7th-best prospect.

In 2013 Gonzales pitched for the Cardinals’ Rookie League team and High-A affiliate. Following a fairly successful first year in the system, he was able to reach the majors by the end of 2014. In that initial stint with the Cardinals he pitched in ten games and started five. Over those ten appearances he went 4-2 with a 4.15 ERA.

The following season Gonzales spent the bulk of his time at Triple-A Memphis. He wasn’t performing as well as expected (his K/9 was a career low 6.6) but he was also battling shoulder issues all season long. On September 1st he earned a spot start against the Nationals, but he gave up 4 runs in 2.2 innings of work.

As Patrick Karraker notes Gonzales appeared to have the inside track on being the Cardinals “sixth starter” in 2016. At 24 years old he is still relatively young, and St. Louis was hopeful he would continue to develop into a consistent option. He’s not a hard thrower, his fastball averaging 90-91 mph, but he has an above average changeup. Earlier this spring Christopher Crawford of Baseball Prospectus wrote that Gonzales, “still has the stuff/command to pitch in the middle of a rotation.”

Next: Pablo Sandoval Placed on DL

Unfortunately for Gonzales he won’t get that opportunity to crack the rotation this season. It’s possible that he would have had the chance this year given some of the injury concerns on the Cardinals staff. Adam Wainwright is returning from Tommy John surgery himself, and Jaime Garcia has battled injuries throughout his career. It looks like the Cardinals’ decision to sign Mike Leake was a wise one as he should be a durable innings eater.

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