Ex-Southwest High and TCU star now leads all of baseball — in Australia
He grew up on the south side in what he called “the barrio,” once took Pedro Martinez deep, played at TCU, won a silver medal in the Olympics, leads all of professional baseball in Australia, and yet he is not the most famous Little League baseball player from his family.
Paul Gonzalez’s cousin is Mikey Valdez, who pitched for the West Side Little League All-Stars, the team that reached the Little League World Series in 2002, and became the inspiration for a Hollywood movie. Mikey was one of the players portrayed in the film “You Gotta Believe.”
Today, Paul Gonzalez, 55, is the general manager of the Australian Baseball League. He lives in Brisbane with his wife; the couple has two grown sons. He played for the Australian national team in multiple Olympics, and was a big part of the assembly of the team that recently competed in the World Baseball Classic.
“I was the young Hispanic kid who when you went across the tracks, the neighborhood changes. I’m that kid,” Gonzalez said this week on a video call. “What happened to me does not happen. To be a ‘Southsider’ and then, through my parents saying we are not going to let him grow up in the gang categories, we’re going to push him to the sport that he loves.
“My journey does not exist without my family’s belief in me, which gave me belief in myself.”
How a Southside kid from Fort Worth landed in Australia
Gonzalez took the “scenic route.”
After one year at Fort Worth Nolan, where he played varsity and was one of its best players as a freshman, he transferred to Southwest. He became an all-state player, which led to a scholarship offer from TCU, where he played for coach Lance Brown from 1988 to 1990.
Gonzalez was selected in the 10th round of the 1990 MLB amateur draft by the San Diego Padres and started the traversing of the minors in hopes of making it to the majors. He played for the High Desert Mavericks, Wichita Wranglers, Las Vegas Stars, Prince William Cannons, Abilene Prairie Dogs and Birmingham Barons. He played overseas, too.
The Padres had a partnership with the Brisbane Bandits, where he played in 1992 and would meet Andrea, now his wife of 30 years. She came to the United States with him while he chased the major league dream, but made it clear that when it was time to have a family, that would be done in Australia.
“I was on the fast track to the big leagues, and when I got to Triple-A, I realized there is just a jump between that level and the major leagues,” he said. “I was a good player, but there is just a difference in talent. When I was with the Padres, I was behind other players, and then they brought in Gary Sheffield.”
Paul became a naturalized citizen of Australia in 1997. He moved there permanently in 2002. He retired from playing in 2003, but unretired to play for the Australian national team in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece, where the team won the silver medal.
Paul Gonzalez’s major league moments
He didn’t reach the big leagues, but in a playing career that lasted more than a decade, Paul had more than a few experiences with baseball’s famous people.
“I played under Bruce Bochy, and Terry Francona in the minor leagues,” he said. “I got a chance to be on the same field with Tony Gwynn. I played against Jim Edmonds, and I played with Mike Piazza, who was amazing. When I was playing in Japan, I played with Ichiro Suzuki when he was with the Orix Blue Wave [now the Orix Buffaloes].”
Those are nice experiences compared to …
“My first year of pro ball was Class A in Bakersfield, California, and we were going to face [pitcher] Pedro Martinez,” Gonzalez said. “I told my roommate, ‘I’m going to take him deep tomorrow,’ and I did.
“I don’t think I touched him after that because he realized I could hit a fastball, and he threw me everything else that he had.”
Paul Gonzalez’s Australian future
After his playing career ended, he joined the corporate world before being asked to run the Brisbane Bandits. He was eventually asked to take over the GM job of the Australian Baseball League, which features four teams and plans to expand to six next year.
The league is stable, and has partnerships with MLB, the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization in Japan, and the KBO (Korean Baseball League). The ABL isn’t big, but there’s money behind it, and enough interest in Australia and other Pacific Rim countries to make it viable.
Baseball in Australia is the long game, without a pitch clock. As evidenced by the team’s performance in international tournaments, there is talent there. In the 2024 MLB amateur draft, the Guardians selected second baseman Travis Bazzana with the first overall pick; a native of Sydney, he is the first Australian-raised prospect drafted in the first round.
Baseball in Australia is behind sports such as rugby, soccer, and cricket in a country that boasts a population of 27.5 million. Games in the ABL average about 900 fans, and the biggest stadium is in Perth, which has a capacity of 4,500.
Gonzalez is also the president of the Queensland Olympic Council, and works with administrators as Brisbane prepares to host the 2032 Summer Olympics.
“I really want to see baseball back in the Olympics for the ‘32; that would be the perfect way for me to sign off on my career,” Gonzalez said.
It’s still undecided whether baseball will be played at the 2032 Olympics.
“How many people in their 50s are still involved with baseball? I am so fortunate every day to be able to do this,” he said.
Paul Gonzalez created quite the career in pro baseball; he just did it in Australia.
This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
