Link to Article on The Red & Black
By Olivia Sayer
Georgia senior Fernando Gonzalez (13) during an NCAA college baseball game between Clemson and Georgia at Foley Field in Athens, Georgia, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Georgia won 4-3. (Photo/Mady Mertens: @MadyMertensPhotography)
Fernando Gonzalez stuck with Georgia baseball through the good and the bad. His loyalty paid off, as the San Francisco Giants selected the former Georgia catcher in the final round of the 2024 MLB Draft.
Gonzalez had a winding journey to becoming a Bulldog. Originally from Panama City, Panama, Gonzalez first picked up a baseball when he was about 3 years old.
“Baseball was always my first love,” Gonzalez said on The Players’ Lounge podcast. “Just playing with my dad in the backyard and breaking windows and mom getting mad once a week.”
Gonzalez moved to the United States in 2018, where he played with former Georgia pitcher Christian Mracna at Trinity Christian Academy in Lake Worth, Florida. To wrap up his high school career, Gonzalez moved to Georgia to attend North Cobb Christian School.
Before coming to Athens, he won an elite title with Team Elite’s Braves Scout Team. Gonzalez said that is how he ended up committing to the Bulldogs.
Gonzalez made an immediate impact his freshman season, appearing in 40 games with 33 starts behind the plate. Gonzalez hit Georgia’s only grand slam of the season, but his glove is what made history. In 330 total chances, the catcher set a school-record with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
Gonzalez steadily improved the next two years before an injury hampered the final month of his junior campaign. With a change in the program’s leadership, Gonzalez had the opportunity to transfer to a number of schools. However, he opted to finish out his collegiate career wearing red and black.
“That brotherhood we had a couple years ago, it kind of keeps the culture going,” Gonzalez said of returning to Georgia with fellow draftees Charlie Condon and Corey Collins.
The decision turned out well, as Gonzalez had the best season of his career. At the plate, he routinely came up with big hits and finished with a .292 batting average. His nine home runs and 53 RBIs were also career-highs.
“Fernando’s been around in this league for so long that that’s nothing new for him,” Condon said after Gonzalez drove in the go-ahead run against Army. “He’s a guy that’s always going to have a slow heartbeat, and I think I speak for the rest of the team that I have all the faith in the world in him.”
Gonzalez also provided a calming presence behind the plate for Georgia’s pitchers with timely mound visits and consistent conversation.
“That guy’s back there constantly talking to our guys, helping our guys,” head coach Wes Johnson said. “He’s like another coach that we have on the field, dugout and in the locker room.”
Gonzalez’s game planning and preparation made Johnson feel comfortable enough to allow his catcher to call some of the games, which is a rare sight in college baseball.
“When [catchers] have that [intuition], then I can sit down with them pregame and attack a game plan with them,” Johnson said of allowing Gonzalez to call pitches. “We’re constantly communicating, [and] there’s a lot to unpack there, but he’s very sharp.”
During the season, Johnson said he typically gives Gonzalez a game plan with different sequences and allows the catcher to take it from there. The two still communicate during the at-bat, especially if Gonzalez has a question about exactly how to attack a batter or if Johnson sees something to override the call. He said throughout the season, he began to give him “a little and then give him a little more” control.
“When you get those older veteran catchers that know the league, hitters and can give you good and honest feedback on what the pitcher’s stuff is doing, then you can go,” Johnson said. “Because that’s the other thing that you need for your catcher to call a game [is] he’s got to understand how good or bad the pitcher’s stuff is. And Fernando’s really good at that.”
Gonzalez now joins a Giants organization managed by Bob Melvin, who is a former first-round backstop that played 692 career games in the Major Leagues. Melvin also developed many successful catchers, including Atlanta’s Sean Murphy.