It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Carlos Gonzalez here at LBS. In 2008, we suggested the Dodgers try and ship Andruw Jones out to Oakland for him. Later that off-season, we said we liked Colorado’s trade of Matt Holliday because of the return they received from the A’s. And in our most recent edition of the Top 30 franchise players in baseball, CarGo cracked the list (see the whole thing here).
Gonzalez finally emerged and put together an MVP quality season last year for the Rockies and it earned him a major contract extension. Now, he’s still turning heads in Colorado’s spring training.
Troy Renck wrote in The Denver Post Monday about a line drive Gonzalez drilled Saturday against Kansas City that still has everyone on the team buzzing. According to Renck, Cargo “smoked a line drive that 15-year veteran Jason Giambi called ‘one of the hardest I have seen hit in a long, long time.'” Catcher Mike McKenry was in the bullpen when he saw the line drive and said “it never got more than 12 feet high. You just don’t see something like that.”
That’s pretty high praise coming from Giambi and McKenry, and outfielder Seth Smith echoed the sentiment. “The ball sounds different when it comes off his bat, but even for him that was loud,” he said.
We love sports and part of what grabs our attention is seeing incredible feats — the stuff that we perceive as superhuman. We love fast athletes, strong athletes, and guys who can jump or hit at extraordinary levels. Hearing the way people talk about CarGo perfectly summarizes why he’s so captivating. How many baseball players would draw such praise?
