Early 2000's Mets Pitcher: Dicky Gonzales (2001)

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Dicky Angel Gonzales was born on December 1st 1978 in Bayamon Puerto Rico. The five foot ten right hander, was drafted by the New York Mets in the 16th round of the 1996 amateur draft. Gonzales spent six years in the Mets organization before making it to the big leagues.

In 19998 he went 10-3 at A ball Capitol City. In 1999 he was 14-9 for A ball St. Lucie getting promoted to AAA Binghamton the next year. There he was 13-5 with 138 strike outs in 147 innings. In 2001 he would begin the season at AAA Norfolk & get a call up to fill in a start.

Gonzalez debuted with the Mets on May 1st, 2001 pitching four innings of relief against the Houston Astros. He allowed three runs in the Mets 7-5 win. On May 7th he was given a start in Colorado at Coors Field. Although he gave up five runs on eleven hits he had offensive support & earned his first win as the Mets prevailed 10-9. He gave up four runs in his next start in San Francisco & took the loss. After a loss in Montreal he was 1-2 with a 5.64 ERA.
 
In June He pitched seven innings in Florida & although he gave up five runs he got another win. He was sent down to the minors, going 6-5 at AAA Norfolk later that month, but returned as a September call up. He got a win in relief on September 19thpitching 6.2 innings of scoreless ball against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.

In 2002 he was sent to the Montreal Expos in the Bruce Chen, Scott Strickland deal. He was placed on waivers in 2003 & got signed by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. There he pitched in four games in 2004. In a two year career he was 3-2 with 38 strike outs 19 walks & a 5.02 ERA in 18 games.

Gonzales has pitched in Japan since 2008. He has played with the Yomiuri Giants since 2009, when he was 15-2 with a 2.11 ERA as one of the leagues top pitchers.

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