SALISBURY — When left-hander Brian Gonzalez returned home from his first full professional season sporting a 5.71 ERA on his ledger from a season with the Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds, he did so feeling the mental and physical effects of a full season.
A third-round draft pick in 2014 yet still the Orioles' top selection in that draft class, he knew what his full-season debut meant for everyone involved.
"I understood what happened during the season was a disappointment, obviously, for the organization, but personally for myself," Gonzalez said. "I put really high expectations on myself, and to go through that, honestly, it was good and bad. I learned a lot last year. I experienced a lot, and understood what it takes to make this happen, to pitch well."
His second time around in Delmarva has shown that what he learned took hold. Gonzalez, 20, has more than halved that ERA so far for the Shorebirds, posting a 2.59 mark while repeating the South Atlantic League and putting some of the shine back on his prospect stock in the process. He has maintained his strikeout rate (6.9 per nine innings last year, 6.8 per nine this year), but cut his walks per nine innings from 5.03 to 3.63 this year while lowering his WHIP from 1.49 to 1.32.
Almost immediately, Shorebirds manager Ryan Minor and pitching coach Blaine Beatty saw the benefits of the decision to return him to their charge.
"Once he had a couple good starts early in the year, his confidence kind of grew a little bit and thinking, 'I know I belong here. I know what kind of level I was drafted at,'" Minor said, "and I think he's starting to pitch like he's worthy of that pick."
Especially recently, Gonzalez has pitched like he's not only worthy of a pick, but like someone who is worthy of spending the last month of the season with a reward promotion up to High-A Frederick. He posted back-to-back outings of six scoreless innings entering Tuesday's start against Lakewood, and had another shutout going into the seventh inning before he ran into trouble.
He'd needed 54 pitches to cruise through six innings — aided by short at-bats and a sneaky pick-off move that nailed two batters running — but allowed just his fourth home run of the season on an errant changeup to spoil his day.
But within that start, Gonzalez showed how he has gotten this far, and how he'll have to succeed without premium velocity on his fastball. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound left-hander has a fastball that sits 88-92 mph, a changeup that he'll cut for weak contact or throw with more fade for swinging strikes, and a breaking ball that he says is "a lot more consistent than last year."
He had to streamline his delivery to keep him on line and shorten his time to home plate, but he has been more consistent in his delivery this season and used that to mix the looks he gives batters.
"That's all just experience and trying to give the hitter a different look and seeing if I need a pitch, I've got it there," he said. "I throw a lot of variations of each pitch because I'm not going to go out there and blow it by every pitch, but I change speeds up on every pitch. That's kind of what I try to do. … I rely on movement and location a lot, and change speeds, which helps a lot. That's what a lot of great pitchers do."
That knowledge is something Gonzalez is going to have to carry when his time in Delmarva ends. His future will rely on his ability to spot his fastball down in the zone and keep hitters off balance. He can do both by eschewing the mentality that got him in trouble in 2015, when he started well but faded down the stretch as he physically wore down and avoided the strike zone at his own expense.
"Last year, I was trying to paint this perfect picture on the strike zone where I'm trying to throw an 0-0 pitch on the corner, when usually a guy might be trying to see a pitch or see what I got," Gonzalez said. "I think when I first got drafted, that first half-year, I was kind of going after guys coming through my high school season. That's how I was taught, then coming to this league my first year, it's better competition, it's older competition, I have to make better pitches.
"But in reality, you go after guys, they're going to respect it, and it helps with all your other pitches. I think this year, that was a big thing for me."
Beatty saw similar conviction grow from year one to year two.
"That would be the biggest thing for me with Brian, to see him solidify himself and his ability," Beatty said. "The development of his curveball has gotten better, his ability to read hitters, to know how to pitch to hitters and just having that confidence when he goes out there.
"It's just maturity and being able to handle some of the adversity that he came into, that he had last year. He's got some tools to handle that adversity, and he's been able to grow up with a lot of those and make the adjustment and have confidence in his ability."
Leaving Gonzalez in Delmarva for the majority of his second full season fits that bill of building his confidence back up, and outings like his past few are the way to send him back home happy. He'd be one of the 10 youngest players in the Carolina League were he to move up, and at age 21 on Opening Day next year, will be on a normal schedule as he progresses through the Orioles system, carrying the banner for a light draft class that's highlighted so far by pitchers David Hess (fifth round), Tanner Scott (sixth round) and Matthew Grimes (16th round).
And perhaps most importantly, he won't go home with a bad taste in his mouth this year.
"For me personally, I'm just going to be more at ease," Gonzalez said. "Last year, I was so anxious to get back out there. I had to wait 4 1/2, five months, whatever it is and I wanted to make sure I was ready. I was kind of like, 'Let's go, let's go, let's go.' This year, I know what I'm working with. I know experience-wise, what I need to do to get ready for the season, so I'll be kind of at-ease in my mind.
"But there's still a lot of stuff I want to work on. There's still a lot of stuff I need to work on. So to be honest, I'm looking forward to the offseason to get a chance to work on those things, but just not having that stress of 'Oh, I've got to perform better.' I guess that's the biggest part."