The 2025 Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame class was announced earlier today. While the committee began reading the names, one stuck out, former Kettleer Nick Gonzales. The 2019 MVP and CCBL champion was on the list with five other inductees for this year's class.
The Tucson, AZ native played his college ball at New Mexico State, where he was a standout for the Aggies. After his freshman season with NM State, he would play three games for the Cotuit Kettleers but would fail to record a hit while striking out three times.
Gonzales did not have the summer he envisioned, but he would go back for his sophomore campaign at New Mexico State and would put together a stellar season. The middle infielder batted .432 with 16 home runs, 80 RBIs, and a 1.305 OPS while being a unanimous All-American and a Golden Spikes National Player of the Year Semifinalist.
He put together an excellent college season, but would the rising junior be able to continue that success for the Kettleers in his second summer? Gonzales wasn't just a good player; he was named MVP of the CCBL after batting .351 with seven home runs, 33 RBIs, and 25 extra-base hits. The magical season for the young slugger would only get better from there.
Cotuit entered the 2019 playoffs with a 20-20 record, winning just three of its last 10 contests. With things looking bleak, could the Ketts even make it out of the first round? Well, they lost 8-7 in the opening game to Wareham, but that's when the tide turned. The Kettleers rattled off six consecutive victories to capture their 18th championship, and Gonzales led the way with a .361 batting average and a team-leading eight RBIs in the postseason.
This would be his final season with Cotuit, and in 2020, he would be named First Team All-American and National Player of the Year by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. After his junior season, Gonzales would enter the 2020 MLB Draft and was selected seventh overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
On June 23, 2023, he achieved every baseball player's dream when he was called up to the MLB. In his first three seasons with the Pirates, Gonzales has been a solid player, batting .254 with 10 home runs, 65 RBIs, and a .690 OPS through 138 games.
While he's been gone for six years, he's still known around the organization as "Mr. Cotuit" for his great success with the club and helping them win another ring. Now that he's been inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame, he will not only be a Cotuit legend but also a permanent legend for the league itself.
