Post Preps Insider is your daily source for news, story lines, top games and more information on Colorado high school sports — brought to you by Denver Post preps editor Kyle Newman.
Ask anyone sitting in the stands that May day at All-City Stadium in 2010, when Rocky Mountain southpaw Marco Gonzales became the first and only player in Colorado prep history to earn four state championship wins, and they’d tell you the pitcher’s professional success seemed preordained.
The sensational 11-2 freshman season that followed at Gonzaga — which earned Gonzales co-West Coast Conference player of the year honors — seemed to cement his destiny toward greatness, and he was selected in the first round (19th overall) of the 2013 draft by the Cardinals.
Then, after a quick ascent to the big leagues, adversity came that called the Fort Collins native’s hardball fate into question. First it was shoulder inflammation that limited him in 2015, and then
But two years removed from that surgery, Gonzales made his 2018 debut for the Mariners on Tuesday where he followed up by limiting the Giants to three runs in 6 ⅓ innings in Seattle’s 6-4 win.
for the 26-year-old for a number of reasons, as Gonzales never lasted more than five innings in his seven starts with the Mariners last year after being traded
Seattle believes in Gonzales, considering general manager Jerry Dipoto in the offseason — a clear vote of confidence for not only veteran ace Felix Hernandez to regain his Cy Young form, to become a bona fide major league starter.
Gonzales showed that potential against San Francisco with an arsenal that included a fastball, changeup, curveball and cutter, a pitch he recently reacquainted himself with in spring training.
And as the pitcher emphasized to The Denver Post shortly after his arrival in Seattle last summer, Gonzales is finally pitching with peace of mind about the health of his arm — something that showed in his dominance Tuesday, especially through the first five innings in which he allowed just one run.
Gonzales, whose eight total starts last year were a career high, is next on Sunday against Minnesota at Target Field. He was one of nine Colorado products on Opening Day rosters.
