St. Paul – Gabriel Gonzalez’s time in Major League Baseball has been brief. Still, he took a lot away from his weekend with the Minnesota Twins when they swept the Boston Red Sox in mid-May.
Gabriel Gonzalez only got one start against Red Sox lefty Payton Toole, and went 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored. Still, even with two at-bats, he showcased the type of hitter Gonzalez has been throughout his pro career. He has sharp plate discipline with strong contact skills and pops the occasional home run.
That wasn’t the case for him before his MLB call-up, though. Gonzalez tried something new, swinging for power more frequently. He got some results with eight home runs and 21 RBI over his first 44 games. However, his strikeout rate sat at 19.8%, while his batting average took a hit, slumping down to .216, and his on-base percentage down to .294.
“I think early on, when the season started, he was trying to hit for a little bit more power, kind of getting away from the player he was before,” Saints manager Brian Dinkelman said regarding Gabriel Gonzalez. “And now, since he came back, this is kind of the guy we had seen previously; contact, putting balls in play, base hits, still doing some damage driving the ball, but this is kind of the hitter he’s always been.”
Since the Twins optioned him to Triple-A on May 25, Gonzalez has been the same hitter he was in 2025. He has a .324/.392/.535 slash line, three home runs, seven RBI. However, his strikeout rate now sits at 25% over his last 19 games.
The strikeout rate may be higher in the smaller sample size, but Gonzalez isn’t all that worried. It’s part of the process he learned during his brief stint in the majors.
“It’s just more of a mental shift of just being up there and talking with the guys who have the experience up there and just keeping that mental shift,” Gonzalez said through teammate Marco Raya, who interpreted on his behalf. “Just being more mature up at the plate and being a little more selective with breaking balls.”
With the contact coming back into his swing and the power becoming more infrequent, Gonzalez is trying to find the equilibrium in his production. He’s shown plenty of power in the lower levels, when he had 18 home runs and 84 RBI in the Seattle Mariners’ farm system in 2023. He’s also shown a solid ability to hit for contact and get on base with his .329/.395/.513 slash line last season.
Gabriel Gonzalez has done both those things over two halves of his season, but now it’s just a matter of combining the two. His season totals at Triple-A show a great season coming together, with 11 home runs, 28 RBI, and a .247/.322/.433 slash line, setting him to be on pace for 25 home runs and 70-plus RBI.
“It’s just that mental shift and being more mature,” said Gonzalez. “Just kind of not trying to make damage on every single pitch I see at the plate, but being more selective with the pitch I want and what I’m looking for. Just coming back to myself again, how I am, how I play with fun and things like that. Just that mental shift and being a little bit more mature attacking each pitch, and once I get it, making the damage count.
“He’s got what, 10 home runs already this year? Now we’re in mid-June,” said Dinkelman. “I mean, yeah, he’s young enough where he’s going to get more at-bats, and he’s understanding his swing and stuff like that. I think he will have a good balance of power and putting the ball in play.”
On top of all this, Gonzalez has been learning first base since the start of the season. He and recent MLB call-up Kyler Fedko got reps there to get more playing time when the Saints opened the season, when Walker Jenkins, Alan Roden, and Emmanuel Rodriguez were getting regular starts in the outfield.
With 18 games under his belt at first, Gonzalez is feeling better adjusted at the position. Still, he knows there’s plenty of work to make himself a solid option at first down the line.
“I really like the position,” Gonzalez said. “I just love playing it. Every rep I’ve practiced at it and every rep I’ve got at first base, I give it my one hundred percent. I know I have areas to improve in at the position, but I just love playing it, have fun playing it, and looking forward to continue the work and get better at the position.”
Gabriel Gonzalez is still just 22 years old and won’t turn 23 until January 4. The Twins have an extremely talented young hitter in their system who has the ceiling to be a top-of-the-lineup hitter with plenty of pop to back up his contact skills. Once he finds the balance between the two, he’ll make himself one of the best all-around hitters in the Twins organization and find himself back in the big leagues soon.
