The Yankees have claimed outfielder Oscar Gonzalez off waivers from the Guardians, reports Jack Curry of YES Network. There wasn’t any public indication that Gonzalez was removed from the Cleveland roster but they evidently tried to pass him through waivers without success. Cleveland’s 40-man roster is now at 39 while the Yankees are at 37.
Gonzalez, 26 in January, is coming off a dismal season in 2023. In 54 big league games, he struck out in 25.6% of his plate appearances while walking at just a 2.8% rate. He hit just two home runs and produced a batting line of .214/.239/.312 for a wRC+ of 49.
That was a big drop from a solid rookie season in 2022, wherein Gonzalez hit 11 home runs in 382 plate appearances. His 3.9% walk rate was still well below average but his strikeout rate was a more manageable 19.6%. He slashed .296/.327/.461 overall for a wRC+ of 125. He also became known to many baseball fans for using the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song as his walk-up music.
Despite that strong 2022 campaign, the poor plate discipline is an ongoing issue. He has swung at 49.1% of pitches outside the strike zone in his career, the highest rate among MLB hitters with at least 550 plate appearances over the past two seasons. In 2,734 minor league plate appearances, he has walked in just 109 of them, a 4% rate.
Gonzalez is generally considered a poor defender in an outfield corner and he’s not a huge stolen base threat, so the offense really needs to carry the profile. Chasing pitches off the plate and the resulting lack of walks have always been an issue for him. He hit enough in 2022 to overcome those faults but crashed back to earth in 2023. He clearly fell out of the plans in Cleveland, spending much of this year in the minors and now departing organization completely.
The Yankees are known to be looking for outfield help but Gonzalez is likely to just be a depth pickup. He still has a couple of option years remaining, which means the Yanks can keep him in Triple-A until they need him in the majors, either due to an injury or Gonzalez showing himself to be in good form. While struggling with the Guards last year, he spent a lot of time in Triple-A and hit .287/.323/.496 at that level for a wRC+ of 98.
The Yanks have Aaron Judge in one outfield spot but will likely pursue external additions to fill out a couple more. They have been connected in rumors to players such as Juan Soto of the Padres and free agent Cody Bellinger. How they fare in their pursuits of those players and others will ultimately determine how high Gonzalez is on the depth chart. He figures to be battling players like Everson Pereira, Estevan Florial and Oswaldo Cabrera for playing time as depth outfielders.