This was more normal, and maybe as he’s longed for it to be. While his team huddled in the outfield, he paced along the left field wall, underneath the monster, with the retired numbers of four Auburn legends staring back at him about 20 minutes before the first pitch. His own cream-colored No. 45 jersey back on, his glove back on his left hand, baseball back in his right.

Joseph Gonzalez went through his pregame routine step by step, just like normal. He went through his long toss on the astroturf warning track and back into the bullpen dorm to speed up his arm, shielded by a screen from the onlooker’s view as he went through his final steps.

There was nothing special. No taking in Plainsman Park again as he stepped onto the mound. No pubic welcome back. No different level of cheer. It was just game two of an opening weekend series against Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, a series which Auburn eventually took in a three-game sweep.

“I didn’t feel anything crazy different just at first because it’s a year since I pitched in an actual game,” Gonzalez said. “Just happy to be here and healthy.”

Yet maybe that was the point. To keep all of this so seemingly exactly as he did 364 days ago.

That day roughly a year ago, a sunny February Saturday of the season-opening series against Indiana, was the last he’d seen this mound in a game. Gonzalez pitched five innings against Indiana in his 2023 debut. Since then, he’s dealt with a nagging shoulder injury that required surgery and ultimately kept him out for the entire remainder of the 2023 season.

Since then, it’s been a long build-back through months of recovery and finally, this spring, returning to the mound of intra-squad scrimmages.

The process was always going to take time. Throughout the preseason, head coach Butch Thompson and pitching coach Everett Teaford said Gonzalez’s velocity had been up relative to before his injury. The concern seemed to be more in how his sinker and slide would break.

So come Saturday, Gonzalez pitched with an effort that seemed maybe less strenuous but more deliberate. It’s why after the ramp-up work he’s done to this point, he said he felt comfortable going for more than the five innings and 69 pitched that he threw Saturday.

“It felt great, it’s good to be back and play with the boys,” Gonzalez said. “I mean, my command was a little off at first, and then I got it going. Sinking got better through the game.”

Yet these are problems solved in time, not permanent regressions following an injury. The velocity will tick back up. The command — which Gonzalez struggled with throwing 37 strikes and 32 balls — looked like, well, exactly what Gonzalez is: a pitcher who hasn’t thrown a game in a year.

Maybe Gonzalez wasn’t quite efficient at first. He walked three batters and hit another all in the first three innings.

But he was quietly productive. Gonzalez allowed only two hits and both to the same hitter. At one point, he retired eight consecutive EKU batters. He allowed one run, an unearned run at that.

“It’s great, we’ve missed him the last year or so,” graduate outfielder Bobby Peirce said. “It’s something that we’ve been waiting for.”

Gonzalez isn’t the type of pitcher to rack up popping strikeout numbers but more one to induce weak contact. He forced six ground outs and five flyouts. Two of the ground outs were inning-ending double plays.

“It was about what I expected,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “You look at the final line, you’ve got five innings and two hits. You there’s something positive there. For me, like I advertised, it looked like he hadn’t been out there for a year. We’ll continue to work. What he did at a high level for Joseph is manipulating swings so we got ground balls.”

Thompson has previously described Gonzalez as like a diesel engine that takes time to get going. It’s what happened as Gonzalez got better over the course of his start and as he gets better over the course of the season.

And in part, after finally cleaning up and recovering from the lingering shoulder injury, Gonzalez may not have been this healthy in years. Even if he isn’t at 100% now, he will continue to improve as he gets closer to full strength.

“Joseph can be a lot better,” Thompson said. “I know it. He knows it. But at the time, he kept navigating. Kept getting better and will over these next few weeks.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]