Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Took a few at-bats, but Cienega grad Nick Gonzales turns MLB heads with Pirates

Gonzales' MLB start wasn't perfect, but still promising for Pittsburgh

Nick Gonzales was hitting .257 for the Triple-A International League's ninth-place Indianapolis Indians on June 22 when club manager Miguel Perez delivered some good news: Gonzales had been booked for an early-morning flight to join the Pittsburgh Pirates in Miami.

The Field of Dreams, right? Gonzales became the 52nd player from a Tucson-area high school to reach the big leagues.

Three years after being drafted No. 7 overall by the Pirates in MLB's 2020 draft, the Cienega High School grad flew from Indianapolis to Miami just in time for Friday's game against the Marlins. His parents, Mike and Jill Gonzales, flew from Tucson to Houston to Miami to arrive at Loan Depot Park in time for their son's MLB debut.

Gonzales struck out. Then he struck out again. Finally, in his third big-league at-bat, he grounded out to third base. He would go 0 for 8 his first three games.

Getting to the big leagues is one thing. What comes next is anyone's guess.

As it turns out, many of Tucson's 27 position players to reach the big leagues didn't wait long to deliver. Sahuaro's Tom Wiedenbauer (1979) hit a double, and Pueblo's George Arias (1995) and CDO's Ian Kinsler (2006) both singled in their first major league at-bats. (Ten of the 27 struck out, including Gonzales).

Sahuaro's Sam Khalifa (1985) grounded out in his big-league debut, but then singled three times in succession.

Gonzales, with his mom and dad in the stands, went hitless over three games before joining an impressive list of Tucson major leaguers to hit a home run in his first 10 big-league games.

Talk about baseball heaven.

Gonzales hit a 442-foot home run to center field in his fourth major-league game — his 13th big-league at-bat — after which Pirates All-Star outfielder Andrew McCutcheon said: "That's the reason he's here; we know what he can do,"

Here's the select club of Tucsonans to hit a home run in their first 10 big-league games:

• Tom Pagnozzi, Rincon. In 1987, Pagnozzi hit a home run in Game 2 of his career, just his fourth at-bat

• Shelley Duncan, CDO. In 2007, Duncan hit a home run in Game 2 of his big-league career, his seventh plate appearance

• Ian Kinsler, CDO. In 2006, Kinsler hit a home run in Game 3 of his career, his ninth at-bat, and went 3 for 3, a preview of a distinguished career in which he had 1,999 hits

• Nick Gonzales, Cienega, 2023. Game 4. At-bat 13

• Brian Anderson, CDO. In 2005, Anderson homered in Game 5, his 14th at-bat, and then hit another homer later in the game, both against Seattle All-Star "King" Felix Hernandez

• Ron Hassey, Tucson. In 1978, Hassey hit a home run in Game 5, his 21st at-bat, off Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan

• Scott Hairston, CDO. In 2004, Hairston hit a homer in Game 6, his ninth at-bat, a rookie year in which he hit 13 homers

• Seth Mejias-Brean, Cienega. In 2019, Mejias-Brean hit a home run in Game 7, his 12th plate appearance

• Alex Verdugo, Sahuaro. In 2017, Verdugo homered in Game 8, his 17th big-league at-bat

• Jack Howell, Palo Verde, 1985. Howell homered in Game 9, his 36th plate appearance, against New York at Yankee Stadium

• Chris Duncan, CDO, 2005. Duncan homered in Game 9 in his 10th plate appearance, as a pinch-hitter

• Erubiel Durazo, Amphi, 1999. Durazo hit a home run in Game 10, his 24th at-bat, against future Diamondbacks teammate Curt Schilling

The longest wait for a major-league home run of the 27 Tucson big-leaguers? Two-time All-Star shortstop J.J. Hardy of Sabino didn't hit one out of the park until his 45th big-league game, at-bat No. 146. Hardy went on to hit 188 home runs.

UA baseball's bash bros. Davis and Romero: a big split

After Arizona sluggers Kiko Romero (21 homers, a school-record 89 RBIs) and Chase Davis (21 homers, 74 RBIs) began receiving all-conference and All-American attention, I began to think they would be twin first-round draft picks for the second time in school history. Arizona produced first-round pitchers Ryan Perry and Daniel Schlereth in 2008.

But once I began studying draft projections it became clear that isn't likely at the July 7-9 draft.

Of the many mock drafts I studied, Davis has been projected as high as No. 16 overall and rarely lower than 25th. The highest I saw Romero, a CDO grad, is No. 181. Most mock drafts don't have Romero in the top 250.

What's the difference? I mean, both hit 17 doubles and 21 home runs. Davis hit .362, Romero .345. Both are roughly 6-feet, 205 pounds.

Here's what I found: Davis, who projects as a center fielder, is more athletic and versatile. He is a year younger than Romero, which is a plus. He has a powerful lower body and more quality at-bats than Romero. His swing-and-miss rate was about 20% lower than Romero's. Plus, Davis is more well-known in the scouting industry. He played for USA Baseball in the summer of 2022 and in the high-profile Cape Cod League.

Romero, by comparison, played for the low-key Western Collegiate League's Corvallis Knights the last two summers and had a high "chase-the-ball-out-of-the-zone" rate.

MLB scouts aren't sure Romero can hit with enough power to play first base in the pros, even though he is said to have a high baseball IQ.

However, I was told that Romero could be drafted somewhere around No. 100 if he is willing to accept a "below draft slot" bonus. The fact he is a left-handed hitter is a significant positive. It's also a plus that he speaks fluent Spanish.

There's also this: Romero broke the 49-year UA RBI record of Ron Hassey, a Tucson High grad who wasn't drafted until the 18th round. Big mistake by the scouts. Hassey went on to play 14 years in the big leagues.

Tucson bowler Coté belongs in select company

I was flipping through the cable channels last week and stopped when I saw that CBS Sports Network was broadcasting the finals of the U.S. Women's Open. Bowling. To my delight, I watched as Tucsonan Bryanna Coté won the championship in a tense final match.

Coté, a Canyon del Oro High School graduate, won the PWBA Tour's 2021 player of the year award — she has won five PWBA championships — but winning the U.S. Open puts her in select company.

Coté, 37, earned $60,000 for the victory. She became emotional and began to cry during the championship ceremony, as you'd expect.

There's no doubt that Coté is one of the five leading women's athletes from Tucson. Here is my updated list:

• Kerri Strug, Olympic gold medal gymnast

• Sherry Cervi, four-time rodeo barrel racing world champion

• Cindy Rarick, five-time LGPA Tour winner

• Lacey Nymeyer, Olympic bronze medal swimmer, eight-time NCAA champion and 2007 NCAA Woman of the Year

• Bryanna Coté, U.S.Open women's bowling champion

Short stuff: UA golfers Christensen and Pollo elevate, bowler Wallace a legend, U.S. Open champ Clark's Tucson connection

• It has been a good summer for Arizona men's golf coach Jim Anderson. Two of his leading returning golfers for 2024, Tiger Christensen and Zach Pollo, have elevated their games and are expected to be impact players. Pollo won the prestigious California Amateur last week, an event previously won by Arizona All-Americans Mike Springer (1987), Harry Rudolph (1991) and Jason Gore (1997). The California Amateur has also been won by PGA Tour champions Johnny Miller, John Cook, Ken Venturi, Xander Schauffele and Mark O'Meara. Big time.

Christensen finished seventh Saturday, at 17 under par, in the European Amateur championships in Estonia. He will hurry from there to compete in Tuesday's final qualifying round for the British Open, in the field with, among others, Sergio Garcia, in Lancashire, England. ... 

• Sad news: Linda Wallace, one of the top bowlers in Arizona history, died last week in Tucson. She was 71.

Wallace won 19 WIBC city championships and 16 Arizona WIBC championships in her remarkable career. The Palo Verde High School graduate was inducted into the Tucson Bowling Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

After (and during) her bowling career, Wallace made an impact in Tucson. Her husband, Eric Hew, said that she kept active in the community as an artist, and also by working as a "restaurateur, a bartender, a theater manager, a real estate agent, a yoga teacher, a reflexologist, a labyrinth maker, a photographer, and a upholsterer.'" ...

• When Wyndham Clark won the U.S. Open golf championship two weeks ago, it sparked memories of his strong connection to Tucson.

His father, Randall Clark, was the No. 1 tennis player at the UA in the mid '70s, an All-WAC standout during a period in which the Wildcats won three straight conference championships and had been a top-10 program for almost a decade.

After Clark left Tucson to pursue the pro tennis tour, he suffered a career-ending injury and began a successful career in commercial real estate in New York, ultimately settling in Denver as an executive for a domestic/international real estate firm in investment banking.

My two cents: Depth should be no issue for Lloyd's Cats in 2023-24

Arizona sophomore forward Filip Borovicanin's emergence as a productive player for Serbia in last week's FIBA U19 championships further loads up Tommy Lloyd's impressive 2023-24 roster.

It's conceivable that all 13 scholarship players are good enough to contend for playing time at any Pac-12 school, although first-year players Paulius Murauskas, Conrad Martinez, K.J. Lewis and Motiejus Krivas have a short time to prove themselves and earn playing time on Lloyd's deep roster.

To me, a more likely issue is how North Carolina transfer Caleb Love fits, and how much freedom he'll get offensively. He averaged 16.7 points at UNC last year. It seems unlikely any Arizona player will average 16 points per game.

A more compelling target is 15.6 points per game. Incredibly, the four Arizona transfers of the last 35 years to lead the Wildcats in scoring all finished with the same total: 15.6 points per game: Chris Mills in 1991, Loren Woods in 2000, Mark Lyons in 2013 and James Akinjo in 2021.

If Love can hit that historic mark, backed by Oumar Ballo, Pelle Larsson, Kylan Boswell, Keshad Johnson, Jaden Bradley, Henri Veesaar and Borovicanin, the sky's the limit for Lloyd's third Arizona team.