The Magnificent Marwin Gonzalez...Who?

So who is Marwin Gonzalez? That’s what I said when I first heard his name. That time came when he was the one who broke up Yu Darvish’s perfect game earlier this month. Since then he has beaten out the career light hitting Ronnie Cedeno for the stating SS position in Houston.

According to his manager Bo Porter the whole organization is excited about his progression so far this year. Gonzalez’ himself states it was his time in Venezuelan winter ball that changes his approach to hitting. He studied all the good hitters who were preparing for the WBC. Whatever he learned or picked up has now made him fantasy relevant.

In the past coming up through the Cubs and then the Astros organization he was considered a light hitting but slick fielding infielder. In fact he has only play in over 110 games in his career one time. He has never hit more than 4 HR at any level and has only broken double digit steals twice in his 7 year career.  

So let’s get to the present and decide if he is usable. Currently hitting .321 with 3HR, 7 RBI, 10 Runs and 3 SB. Uh, yeah…he is especially usable. The 6'1" 210 lbs ranks as the 6^th best SS to date and the 12^th best 3B. Nice bonus to have the two position eligibility. Though he currently is hitting 9^th for the Astros, he is getting on base and the hot hitting Altuve (.340 BA) has been driving him in. Since he is on a very bad Houston team, fantasy owners are still shying away from owning him.  Currently only owned in 14% of leagues. I have picked him up in a couple of leagues. So if you have Aramis or Zimmerman on the shelf due to injuries or you cannot take Prado’s or Moustakas’ slow starts you should examine if you have roster room for Gonzalez. On the 2B side he is crushing players like Walker, Espinosa, Ackley and Kipnis. Remember I warned you about Kipnis here.