Tucson's top prospect, RF Carlos Gonzalez, made the transition from class A to AA this season. He turned 21 in July, and seems to be developing at a decent rate. I may have to spend some PPT this offseason to bump his work ethic up from "low". I don't want to risk that interfering with his trajectory towards the Brewster.
Carlos hit .308 with an .840 OPS (131 OPS+), 3 HR and 27 RBI in 55 class A games with Tombstone before being promoted. He carried on at AA Newton Falls hitting .264 with a .749 OPS (105 OPS+), 6 HR and 38 RBI in 60 games. I suspect that I will have Carlos begin the 2026 campaign at AA, and then promote him a couple of weeks into the season. He still has potentials of 8/7/8/5/7 and is 8-rated in RF. He is a left-handed bat, with which I am looking forward to replacing Danny Boy LaBrie at some point.
Carlos was the 4th overall pick in the 2023 draft, and I have resisted the temptation to trade him, a decision I am grateful to have made at this point, being that it seems no amount of trading will help Tucson become a winner. I guess I must be content being the league doormat. Carlos is currently 5/7/4/5/4 vs. RHP, so he has a ways to go. We're talking 3 points of contact, 4 points of power, which always seems to be the slowest to develop, and 3 point of avoid K. 10 more points total, and as I said, he is 21. CarGo is currently rated as the 20th best prospect in the league, but the guy rated as #19, Brooklyn's RF prospect Enrique Salazar, who is roughly 6 months younger than Carlos, really outperformed him at the AA level and is far more developed at this point. I just pray that Gonzalez doesn't let me down.
