Player of the Week - Week One - Danny Gonzales - Anderson Servants

A batting average of .400 over a span of 10 games is certainly something to be proud of. For this, along with the five doubles, one triple and six RBIs he's racked up, the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate Baseball League has selected Danny Gonzales of the Anderson Servants to be its Player of the Week for the week of June 8th- 17th.

Gonzales, a junior shortstop and a native of La Mirada, CA, found his way to Anderson, IN by way of San Diego Christian College. Anderson is a big change for him, not only in location but in the level of play.

"It's one of the biggest differences in my entire life," he says. "I'm so used to the big city, but this place is just wide open, [and]... the players are a lot bigger than I'm used to, these big corn-fed boys."

The change of venue and player size hasn't seemed to affect his game much, however.

Kyle Rayl, field manager for the Servants attributes Gonzales' early success to preparation.

"He plays with a solid league out in California. He came in well prepared with a good idea of what to expect," Rayl says.

Gonzales says he doesn't do anything special to prepare for each game, just what the rest of the team does for warm-ups, but he does try to "work the middle to opposite side of the field and keep [his] hands inside." He also looks for inside pitches.

Whatever he's doing, it's certainly working for him.

The icing on the cake would be for the Anderson Servants to break out of their recent five-game funk.

Gonzales advises that the team should "figure out how to close up the game. We're usually leading going into the last few innings, we just need to keep pushing on and on."

Sound advice from a solid player.