Luis Fernando González (born September 10, 1995) is a Mexican professional baseball outfielder for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played college baseball at the University of New Mexico. He was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the third round of the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft, and made his MLB debut with them in 2020.
| Luis González | |
|---|---|
| San Francisco Giants – No. 51 | |
| Outfielder | |
| Born: (1995-09-10) September 10, 1995 (age 27) Hermosillo, Mexico | |
Bats: Left Throws: Left | |
| MLB debut | |
| August 18, 2020, for the Chicago White Sox | |
| MLB statistics (through 2022 season) | |
| Batting average | .253 |
| Home runs | 4 |
| Runs batted in | 36 |
| Teams | |
| |
González was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, to Luis and Lisa González, and has an older sibling named Paloma.[1] He started playing baseball when he was six years old, in the local Liga Unison (Unison League), a youth baseball league sponsored by the University of Sonora in Hermosillo.[2] He is bilingual, and moved to Arizona with his family when he was 10 years old.[3]
González attended Catalina Foothills High School in Tucson, Arizona. He batted .400 for Foothills with a 9-4 pitching record, and was named a Division 2 MVP in his senior year when he batted .500 with 10 home runs.[4][5]
He then played college baseball at the University of New Mexico, where González majored in Economics. He played center field, and was a weekend starting pitcher for the Lobos for three years (2015–17).[1] As a sophomore in 2016, González had a .381 batting average (4th in the Mountain West Conference), 21 doubles (3rd), five triples (4th), six home runs (8th), 63 runs (2nd), 43 walks (2nd), a .470 on-base percentage (3rd), a .694 slugging percentage (6th), and 18 stolen bases (2nd) without being caught, and was named to the Second-Team All-Mountain West.[6] González was also named co-MVP of the 2016 Mountain West Conference tournament after going 3-for-5 in the Championship game.[7] The win qualified the Lobos for the 2016 NCAA Regionals.[8] While the Lobos lost to #1 seed Texas Tech before being eliminated by Dallas Baptist the following morning, González had three hits against Texas Tech, with one article saying: "If there's a bright side for the Lobos, it's that center fielder Luis Gonzalez might be the hottest hitter in the entire regional."[9] As a junior in 2017 he batted .361(10th)/.500 oba (leading the conference)/.589 slg percentage with 62 runs (4th), 22 doubles (4th), 14 stolen bases (4th) in 18 attempts, and 58 walks (leading the conference).[10] For his New Mexico career, he batted .353/.468/.564 in 598 at bats, had 153 runs, 54 doubles, 8 triples, 18 home runs, and 113 RBIs, stole 35 bases while being caught five times, walked 124 times but only struck out 71 times, and made 22 starts as a pitcher.[11][12]
González was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the third round of the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft.[13][14] He signed in June 2017 for a $517,000 signing bonus.[15]
González spent his first professional season in 2017 with the Rookie League Great Falls Voyagers and the Class A Kannapolis Intimidators.[16] He batted .236/.351/.348 with 29 runs, two home runs and 15 RBIs in 250 at bats over 67 games.[17]
He played 2018 with Kannapolis and the Class A+ Winston-Salem Dash,[18] slashing a combined .307/.368/.498 in 482 at bats with 85 runs, 40 doubles (the most in the organization, and 4th-most in the minor leagues), 14 home runs, and 71 RBIs (3rd among White Sox minor leaguers) in 117 games between the two clubs.[19][20][21][22] He was named a 2018 South Atlantic League Mid-Season All Star, and a 2018 MiLB Organization All Star.[23]
He spent 2019 with the AA Birmingham Barons.[24] González slashed .247/.316/.359 with 63 runs (4th in the Southern League), nine home runs, 59 RBIs (10th), 10 sacrifice flies (leading the league), and 17 stolen bases and 9 caught stealing in 473 at bats over 126 games.[25]
On August 17, 2020, González was promoted to the major leagues for the first time.[26] On August 18, he made his MLB debut, and in the season he had two plate appearances.
In 2021, he batted .241/.352/.423 in 137 at bats for the AAA Charlotte Knights, and hit two doubles in eight at bats for the White Sox.[27] On August 9, 2021, González was released by the White Sox.[28]
On August 11, 2021, González was claimed off of release waivers by the San Francisco Giants.[29] On November 30, 2021, González was non-tendered by the Giants, making him a free agent.[30] On January 13, 2022, González re-signed with the Giants.[31] On April 22, González's contract was selected by the Giants after an injury to Steven Duggar.[32]
On April 25, González hit his first major league home run off of Jake Cousins in the top of the 9th inning.[33] His two-run homer gave the Giants a 4-2 lead against the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Giants went on to win the game.[33] González was named the NL Rookie of the Month in May of 2022.