Pirates agree to terms with 1st-round pick Nick Gonzales, who expects to sign Wednesday

The Pittsburgh Pirates agreed to terms with first-round pick Nick Gonzales and will sign the New Mexico State shortstop Wednesday, pending his passing a physical exam.

Gonzales was en route to Pittsburgh on Tuesday, his father, Mike Gonzales, confirmed to the Tribune-Review.

The Pirates selected Gonzales with the No. 7 overall pick in the MLB Draft on June 10, which carries a slot value of $5,432,400. The Pirates already agreed to terms with their second-round pick, right-handed pitcher Jared Jones of La Mirada (Calif.) High School.

Fifth-round pick Logan Hofmann, a right-handed pitcher from Northwestern State in Louisiana, also told the Trib that he’s agreed to terms with the Pirates, pending a physical. Hofmann lives in Saskatchewan in western Canada, so he’s still working out the details of where and when to take his physical exam.

The 5-foot-10, 190-pound Gonzales slashed .448/.610/1.155 and led the NCAA in home runs (12), RBIs (36), runs (28) and total bases (67) in 16 games this season. He had 11 more walks than strikeouts, and finished his career with an 82-game streak of reaching base.

Gonzales hit .347 in 2018, when he was named Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year. After making a “slight mechanical adjustment” to tap into his legs and gaining strength through weight training, he was the 2019 NCAA batting champion (.432). But it was his starring role in the Cape Cod League wood bat league, where he slashed .351/.451/.630 and was named MVP last summer, that locked him in as a future first-rounder.

The 5-foot-10, 190-pound Hofmann was 4-0 with no earned runs, 38 strikeouts and five walks in 28 innings for Northwestern State this spring. Hofmann was a 35^th-round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals last year after two seasons at Colby Community College, where he was 8-4 with a 3.11 ERA and 128 strikeouts against 21 walks in 89 2/3 innings in 2019, and then starred in the Cape Cod League last summer.