Gonzalez letting the good times roll while getting shot with White Sox
For now, Romy Gonzalez is part of the White Sox's present.
He's getting an opportunity to help a Sox team with baseball's third-worst record (23-35) right the ship and salvage a disastrous season.
If the White Sox's slide continues, Gonzalez will try to show he can be part of the future.
Staying in the present, Gonzalez has been filling in at second base for Elvis Andrus, who has been on the injured list since May 13 with a left oblique strain.
After missing two weeks with a sore right shoulder, Gonzalez was activated off the IL when Andrus went down.
Before that, Gonzalez played in 21 games with the Sox and showed very little, batting .139/.139/.194 with no home runs and 1 RBI.
Manager Pedro Grifol has noticed something about Gonzalez since he's been back from the shoulder issue.
"I just think he's having fun, I really do," Grifol said. "I just think he's relaxed, he's playing the game loose, the way the game needs to be played. When you let the pressures of this game take away the joy of it, you're done. You're done in anything you do in the game.
"I'm not sure, I'm not in his head, but it looks like he said, 'The hell with it. I'm going to have some fun and I'm going to play this game the way I know how to play it, the way I've always played it.' If it works out, it works out, and if it doesn't, it doesn't. That's the way it looks like he's playing."
Over his last 10 starts, Gonzalez is hitting .303 with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 3 home runs and 10 RBI and he's made several standout defensive plays.
Is he relaxed and having fun playing the game like his manager indicated?
"That's 100% accurate, yeah," the 26-year-old Gonzalez said. "I was putting so much pressure on myself. I know what I'm capable of. I work extremely hard. I love this game. I love this team. I want to win.
"I just said, 'Screw it. Let's go out there and have fun.' At the end of the day, it is a game and that added pressure is not going to help."
Staying healthy is going to help a lot, and Gonzalez showed his right shoulder is feeling strong with home runs in three straight games this week.
Last year, the White Sox's 18th-round draft choice in 2018 missed two months with a viral infection that led to tonsil surgery.
Gonzalez made the Sox's roster out of spring training, and his ability to play second base, third, shortstop and the corner outfield spots are valuable.
Andrus is close to coming off the IL, but that doesn't mean he's going right back to second base and sending Gonzalez to the bench.
"He keeps hitting home runs, he's going to find himself somewhere to play every day," Grifol said of Gonzalez. "He keeps playing the way he's playing and having fun out there and helping us win in many different ways, he's got to play. That's just the way this is. This is the big leagues and we're here to win baseball games and if there's somebody that's going to help us win a game, he's playing."
Before getting hurt in late April, Gonzalez was hardly playing at all. That definitely figured into the fun factor.
"Just playing every day, seeing pitches, seeing shapes," Gonzalez said. "This game is very tough, so when you get the opportunity to play every day and you get in a groove, it's definitely helpful."