Gonzales not the only Bucco to show ‘clutch gene’
After his team’s 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals Monday night, Pirates manager Derek Shelton was asked if he believed the “clutch gene” existed in baseball.
After his team’s 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals Monday night, Pirates manager Derek Shelton was asked if he believed the “clutch gene” existed in baseball.
“If you talk to anybody who is an analyst, they will tell you, ‘No.’ If you talk to anyone who has ever put a uniform on they will tell you, ‘Yes.’ Because people have the ability to slow their heartbeats down and hit in those situations,” Shelton said. “It’s something that can’t be taught. It’s something that you just have to do.”
Well, I’ve never put on a Major League Baseball uniform. I do serve somewhat of an analytical role. Yet, I do believe in the clutch gene.
If I hadn’t before, I’d be changing my opinion after watching Nick Gonzales this season. The Pirates’ second-year second baseman has been big in clutch situations this year. The latest example was his game-winning RBI on Monday, driving in Bryan Reynolds for the go-ahead run with one out in the eighth inning.
That gives Gonzales eight game-winning RBIs, the most on the team. He’s done so in just 236 at-bats. Monday’s heroics are just a few days removed from his walkoff hit to beat the Philadelphia Phillies Friday night.
“I’m just trying to do my job,” Gonzales said on SportsNet Pittsburgh after the win. “Bryan Reynolds having a great at-bat (eight pitches before a single), Oneil (Cruz) having a good AB seeing a lot of pitches (six before a strikeout). Being able to have a plan up there, seeing those guys do what they did, for them to put me in a spot to have the opportunity to get the RBI was nice.”
As Shelton outlined, though, it’s been more than good fortune for Gonzales this season.
“Guys get overanxious. They try to do too much. But, as we saw tonight, base hit, ground ball to right field,” Shelton said. “That’s not something that you learn. That’s something that you have. Bryan (Reynolds) is very similar to that. Nothing gets too high. Nothing gets too low.”
That wasn’t necessarily the case for Gonzales last year, though. He finished 2023 on an 8-for-57 slide (.140 batting average), before being recalled from the minor leagues in May of this season. Since then, though, he’s been very good with runners on base (.284 batting average) and runners in scoring position (.293). Baseball Reference. com tracks Gonzales at .317 in 44 high leverage plate appearances this season.
“I don’t want to say we expect it now, but every time he comes up in a big situation, he’s getting the job done, which is a testament to him and his hard work,” said starting pitcher Mitch Keller.
It wasn’t just Gonzales who lent credence to the clutch gene argument Monday. Keller did, too, going seven strong innings, matching Cardinals starter Andre Pallante frame-for-frame in an old-fashioned pitchers’ duel. He and Joey Bart connected on an inning-ending strikeout-throwout double play in the third. Aroldis Chapman and David Bednar were clean in the eighth and ninth innings with no wiggle room. And Rowdy Tellez made a sparkling defensive play to keep the game tied 1-1 in the fifth.
So that’s plenty of evidence to support the clutch gene argument, and Gonzales remains the central point of the thesis.
