Gio Gonzalez and Kurt Suzuki together again as they play for Washington Nationals - MLB Update
Both Gio Gonzalez and Kurt Suzuki used to play for the Oakland Athletics before they were traded to the Washington Nationals. While Gonzalez was acquired by the Nationals before the start of the season, the catcher Suzuki has been included on the roster
just recently.
It is a coincidence that the pitcher Suzuki faced behind the plate while in the Athletics will be confronted by him again. By the time Gonzalez left Athletics, Suzuki had possibly not thought of ever catching his throws again.
Right now, they are enjoying playing together.
As far as the performance of both these players in the season is concerned, Gonzalez has turned out to be one of the most successful hurlers for the Nationals whereas Suzuki has not been that great so far.
Suzuki caught Gonzalez for the first time since his trade to the Nationals on Wednesday. Interestingly enough, the catcher used the same nuances to communicate a particular message from behind the plate to Gonzalez that he followed while he was with Oakland.
“There were a lot of times when he went into those later innings before, he would just get so amped up and try to do too much,” Suzuki said. “I just tried to make sure he was calm and just focused on getting strikes and hitting my target and stuff like that,
not trying to think, ‘I need to get this guy out.’”
As Suzuki caught Gonzalez when he threw the complete game, he has noted few changes that the starter has made in his pitches. Gonzalez used to be less consistent with his fastballs and was prone to walking too many batters before, but he is fairly improved
as of now, he said.
Meanwhile, Gonzalez is of the view that nothing is different except the uniforms and that he along with the help of Suzuki will keep striking out batters the way they have done in the past.
“It was one of those situations where nothing changed. It just feels like we’re wearing different uniforms. That’s all it is,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez will like to continue his present success in the season in the upcoming games. On the other hand, Suzuki will make sure he lives up to the confidence that the management has shown by assigning him the catching job immediately after the trade.
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