Nick Gonzales entered 2026 in a make-or-break season. The former Pittsburgh Pirates first-round pick was coming off a poor 2025 campaign. Not only did he miss about two months in the first half of the year with an ankle injury, but Gonzales turned in just a .661 OPS and 82 wRC+ when he was healthy enough to take the field. However, Gonzales looks like he is on his way to a breakout 2026 season, and his hot start to the year is boosting the Pirates’ offense.
Offensive breakout after a poor 2026
It has only been 126 plate appearances, but Gonzales is batting .328/.381/.371 with a .344 wOBA, and 115 wRC+. Gonzales hasn’t hit for much power, with no home runs and a .043 isolated slugging percentage. He also is not walking very often, with a 6.3% BB%. However, that is an improvement over his 4.9% BB% in 2024-2025, and his strikeout rate sits below 20%, at 18.3%.
🔥 HOT STREAK 🔥
Pirates INF Nick Gonzales is ON FIRE over his last 10 games.
Last 10 games:
16-39
.410 AVGNick Gonzales’s season:
0 HR
17 RBI
.328 AVG
.381 OBP
.752 OPS#LetsGoBucspic.twitter.com/vA6UfARnno— PaceBall (@paceball__) May 5, 2026
Nick Gonzalez: Is his good luck sustainable?
The first thing that fans will question is if this is in any way sustainable. Gonzales is getting very lucky with his batted ball luck. His batting average on balls in play is .409. The last MLB batter to keep a BABIP over .400 in at least 500 plate appearances was Yoan Moncada in 2019. Only three batters since 1980 have reached that mark, including Moncada, Jose Hernandez in 2002, and Manny Ramirez in 2000. The likes of Ichiro Suzuki, Tony Gwynn, or Pete Rose ever reached that mark over the course of a full season.
However, that doesn’t mean Gonzales can’t maintain a higher than average BABIP, or that his performance thus far is a complete fluke. The infielder is in the 98th percentile of xBA at .317, and is putting up an identical .344 xwOBA. Although he has a poor exit velocity of 86.7 MPH and a barrel rate of 1.1%, he is in the 69th percentile of launch angle sweet spot rate. He also has the 14th-highest line drive rate in baseball at 25.8%. His 85th percentile sprint speed will also help him run out slowly and hit ground balls, or grounders deep in the hole on the left side of the infield.
Both Gonzales’ wOBA on contact and expected wOBA on contact are very good. Both sit around .390. His .389 wOBA on contact is higher than the likes of Julio Rodriguez (.386), Carlos Correa (.384), and Bobby Witt Jr. (.382). His expected wOBA on contact of .390 not only suggests he is making good contact and not getting unlucky, but also puts him in good company. Byron Buxton (.389), Jose Ramirez (.383), and Cody Bellinger (.381) all have xwOBACON marks very similar to Gonzales’s.
Gonzales has been one of the most important Pirates hitters so far
Gonzales has added plenty of fuel to the Pirates’ offense so far this season. He is in the top three on the team in on-base percentage, has the fifth most total bases, and the most hits overall. Even if he doesn’t continue to hit .330, he is showing the signs of a .270-.280 batter with an OPS hovering around .710-.730. The fact that he has also played solid defense at multiple positions has only helped his case to become a mainstay in the Pirates’ lineup.
(Top Image Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images)
