Infielder Erik Gonzalez cleared outright waivers following last week’s DFA and has been assigned to the Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate in Jacksonville, per the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. Gonzalez, who was designated for assignment last week when the Marlins selected the contract of veteran center fielder Billy Hamilton, has enough service time to reject the assignment and elect free agency if he chooses.
The 30-year-old Gonzalez has had a pair of stints with Miami this season, hitting at a combined .189/.268/.216 clip in a tiny sample of 41 plate appearances. He entered the 2022 season with a more palatable, albeit still well below-average, career batting line of .245/.276/.345 (853 plate appearances).
Miami is the third big league stop of Gonzalez’s seven-year big league career. He is previously spent time in Cleveland and in Pittsburgh but has primarily filled a utility role. The versatile infielder has never topped 81 games played or 229 plate appearances in a single Major League season.
Along the way, Gonzalez has appeared at all four infield positions and in all three outfield slots, although the vast majority of his time has been split between shortstop (781 innings), third base (655 innings) and second base (384 innings). Gonzalez has plus defensive ratings at all three of those positions per each of Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average, with his work at third base, in particular, standing out (13 DRS, 4 OAA).
The right-handed-hitting Gonzalez opened the year with a .339/.376/.431 showing through 186 plate appearances in Triple-A. He is a career .268/.308/.396 hitter in just over 1200 plate appearances at that level.
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