The Rocket City Trash Pandas finally poured some cold water on Jacob Gonzalez’s sizzling start to Double-A.
But they didn’t cool him off completely.
Gonzalez’s Birmingham Barons had been undefeated through seven games following his promotion last week. However, they lost to Rocket City, 5-3, in the first of a Wednesday doubleheader. Gonzalez was 0 for 3 with a walk and run scored.
Gonzalez had been on an absolute tear as the team’s two-hole hitter. Cleaning him up has been his former Ole Miss teammate, Tim Elko.
Birmingham previously swept six games at Biloxi, and Gonzalez and Elko had more combined home runs (14) through the first five than the entire Shuckers roster (13).
“His first stop he had Calvin Harris, so he had someone, and now he has Elko,” Ole Miss hitting coach Mike Clement said, in talking exclusively with the Ole Miss Spirit this week. “Jake would rather get four hits and then just go to the clubhouse, eat the spread and then head back to the house. Let Elko do all the interviews and all that stuff. I think they’ve got that dynamic going.
“It’s really cool that they’re back together again as teammates. Calvin (Harris) isn’t far behind.”
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Gonzalez was the No. 15 overall pick of the Chicago White Sox in the 2023 MLB Draft.
Harris went in the fourth round. Elko was a 10th-rounder the year prior. All were key players on Ole Miss’ title-winning team of 2022.
Elko led the team in slugging percentage (.642), RBI (75), home runs (24) and total bases (154). He set a new single-season program record for home runs. Gonzalez, a then-sophomore, clubbed a career-high 18 round-trippers. He paced the Rebels in runs (73), walks (50) and triples (3).
Harris had the most runs scored (52). He was second in slugging percentage (.579), hits (67), home runs (12), doubles (14) and total bases (121) and finished third in batting average (.321), on-base percentage (.398), and RBI (46).
Harris set new single-game program records for home runs (4) and total bases (16).
“I got a call from maybe the White Sox hitting coordinator and he’s like, ‘Hey, do you think Jacob likes what he’s doing?’ I started laughing,” Clement said. “I was like, ‘Hey, listen, loves what he’s doing, but he’s not going to give you a lot of emotion. He may not even smile that much.’
“But he’s not going to be mad either; he’s just going to go play.”
Clement’s also kept a close eye on Doug Nikhazy.
Nikhazy is in Double-A with the Cleveland Guardians, a divisional foe of the White Sox in the AL Central. Nikhazy is one of the most accomplished pitchers in Ole Miss history. He was taken in the second round in 2021.
“You talk about bored? He’s given up like two runs in Double-A,” Clement said of Nikhazy. “I don’t know what (the Guardians) are doing. Like, just send him to the big leagues. He’s the best.
“I’ve been in the dugout with plenty of big-leaguers. He’s the best college pitcher I’ve been around. I would downsize our house and give up half my salary to have him back, safely. Send our kids to public school. Never eat out. Save all my money for Doug Nikhazy to come back. He can have my office.”
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