BIOGRAPHY
Marco Gonzales was born on February 16, 1992, in Fort Collins, Colorado. He is a pitcher in the MLB.
He has also played in MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals. He attended Gonzaga University, where he played college baseball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs as a pitcher and first baseman.
At Gonzaga, Gonzales won the West Coast Conference Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, and Freshman of the Year awards. Gonzales also was chosen as an All-American and named the John Olerud Award winner for 2013. The Cardinals selected him with the 19th overall pick in the first round of the June 2013 MLB draft. In Minor League Baseball in 2014, he was a Texas League midseason All-Star and Pitcher of the Week selection and the Cardinals' Minor League Pitcher of the Year. He made his MLB debut in 2014, and underwent Tommy John surgery in 2016 for a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow. The Cardinals traded him to the Mariners in 2017.
In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Gonzales was named the Mariners' Opening Day starter for the second season in a row. On July 23, Gonzales started his first game of the season pitching 4.1 innings and giving up 3 earned runs on 73 pitches against the defending AL pennant winners the Houston Astros. Gonzales's first start would be the shortest outing of his season as he would go on to pitch at least 5 innings per start for the remainder of the season. The 2020 season also included Gonzales's second-ever complete game when he pitched 9 innings, giving up 1 run and striking out 8 batters while throwing 102 pitches against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on August 31.
Gonzales would finish the 2020 season compiling a record of 7-2 and a 3.10 ERA in 11 starts, which would mark a personal best for ERA in a season. In the 60-game season, Gonzales would finish in the top 5 for wins and WHIP, and in the top 20 for ERA and opponent batting average in all of baseball for the first time in his career. He led the AL in walks per nine innings (0.904) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.143).
For the 2021 season, Gonzales was named the club's Opening Day starter for the third season in a row. He started 25 games for the year, going 10-6 with a 3.96 ERA and 108 strikeouts over 143.1 innings.
In 2022, he was 10-15 with a 4.15 ERA in 183 innings, in which he struck out 103 batters, as he led the league in losses and was third in home runs allowed (30). His strikeout percentage of 13.2% was the lowest among qualified pitchers in major league baseball.
