DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
Edinburg High coach Robert Valdez unleashed John Gonzalez in 2015.
The previous two years, Valdez had used his hard-throwing right-hander sparingly, primarily as a closer. But this season, with the Bobcats looking to break a string of early ousters in the playoffs, Valdez turned to the Texas Tech verbal commit, and Gonzalez responded.
Gonzalez went 9-1 with a 0.11 ERA in helping lead the Bobcats to the Class 6A regional semifinals for the first time since 1956. Gonzalez had 110 strikeouts to just 30 walks in 63 innings in working his way to becoming RGVSports.com’s 2015 All-Valley Pitcher of the Year.
It’s no coincidence that the Bobcats broke out right when Gonzalez did. Gonzalez threw just 16 innings as a sophomore in 2014 and 10 in 2013.
“This season, I accepted a bigger role,” Gonzalez said. “I was getting stronger and stronger and I just pushed through this season. It got tough there at the end as we started seeing tougher teams, but I adjusted.”
Gonzalez said opponents started catching up to a fastball that hits the low 90’s. So he started going more to a changeup and letting his defense work, nuances of smart pitching he developed under Valdez and pitching coach David Kaz the previous two years.
Valdez took precious care of Gonzalez his first two years, refining everything from arm angle to arm speed. This year, Gonzalez was ready to let loose.
“It’s a great thing,” Gonzalez said. “Growing up, you dream of seasons like this. This year was amazing. It was fun, and it’s fun knowing I can only get better.”
While playing for the Houston Banditos travel team this summer, Gonzalez is working to improve his changeup and is re-introducing a slider he had abandoned but had been a key weapon for him as a youngster.
“Improve the fastball, hit earlier in counts, work on the off-speed stuff,” Gonzalez said. “I want to be ready for anything.”
ROWE’S GARCIA IS ALL-VALLEY NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Abanny Garcia was surprised when McAllen Rowe coach Angel Perez told him he had made the varsity team as a freshman. But Perez saw in Garcia early on what the RGV baseball world would see for itself.
Garcia emerged as an all-around standout for the Warriors, going 6-1 with a 1.49 ERA and 44 strikeouts to 11 walks as a right-handed pitcher, while hitting .457 with a .530 on-base percentage and .527 slugging percentage. He helped catapult a young Rowe team into the postseason in a competitive District 30-6A.
For that, Garcia is RGVSports.com’s 2015 All-Valley Newcomer of the Year.
“How I’ve always thought about baseball is I just want to play wherever I can be used,” Garcia said. “But pitching is where I was always ahead.”
Growing up, Garcia had a wall in his house with a square on it. He would often throw the baseball from distance, attempting to hit anywhere within the square. He taught himself at an early age that baseball was not necessarily about throwing the hardest, but about hitting spots consistently.
It’s why Garcia’s strength is his location, something that can elude even the most seasoned of pitchers. Not bad for a young man who never took pitching lessons and pretty much featured only a fastball and a curveball during his inaugural campaign.
Offensively, Garcia sees the ball well and is patient in his approach.
“I just kept working,” Garcia said. “Outside pitches used to kill me, and I got better and now I can get to them. I’ve just got to keep working and keep getting better. I want to throw harder. I want to add a changeup. There’s a lot of stuff that can still be done.”