Justin Gonzales is the type of player who is impossible to miss. Standing at 6-foot-6, 277 pounds, the 19-year-old outfielder towers over his peers and has shown himself capable of performing astonishing feats of power.
And yet while it’s easy to get swept up in what Gonzales might one day be capable of, coming into this season he’d never hit more than five home runs in a season as a professional.
But this year, the hulking Red Sox prospect is finally beginning to tap into his latent potential.
Through the first two months Gonzales has already hit seven home runs in 40 games with High-A Greenville, establishing a new career high barely a third of the way through the season. He’s continued to flash his already prolific contact skills, and recently he broke into Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospect Rankings, currently coming in at No. 95.
“Gonzales’ size stands out immediately, but he’s more than just a power hitter,” Baseball America’s scouting report reads. “He produces some of the highest exit velocities of any teenager in the minors and has surprising contact ability. He needs to more consistently elevate the ball and improve his swing decisions, but he has one of the highest offensive ceilings in the Red Sox system.”
Originally signed for $250,000 out of the Dominican Republic as an international free agent ahead of the 2024 season, Gonzales quickly made his mark by earning Latin Program Player of the Year honors in his first season with the organization.
He arrived stateside in 2025 and spent the majority of the season in Low-A, and during spring training, he turned heads when he hit a single that measured 117.3 mph off the bat during a cameo with the big league club. According to Statcast, that was the second-hardest hit ball by any player in MLB during spring training up to that point.
Yet for all the hype about his power, Gonzales’ actual play early on more closely resembled an old school contact-first leadoff hitter at times.
Gonzales batted .281 with five homers, 32 RBI and a .753 OPS in 93 games last season, including an impressive .298 average with an .804 OPS in 81 games at Low-A. But he also had a 57.4% ground ball rate, which ranked among the highest of any player in the minor leagues in 2025.
You’re not going to hit many home runs that way, so cutting down those empty grounders and driving the ball more consistently was a top priority for Gonzales this past offseason.
Red Sox outfielder Justin Gonzales recently broke into Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospect Rankings. (Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
When Gonzales spoke to the Herald during spring training, he said he felt like he was already making good progress.
“I think I’m getting a lot better in that area, my ball flight is getting a lot better, I’m catching the ball more out in front and trying to get more in the air and I feel like I’m in a really good spot,” Gonzales said via interpreter Justin Frometa in a March interview. “So continuing to push along and get to that place is super important for me.”
While his ground ball rate is still high, he has shown notable improvement. So far this year his ground ball rate is 47.8%, nearly 10 percentage points lower, and his line drive rate is up from 21% in 2025 to 28.7% this season. He’s also using the whole field, too, going from pulling the ball 56.6% of the time to 40.3% while more frequently going to center field (18.5% to 28.1%) and the opposite way (24.9% to 31.7%).
Combined with his 16% strikeout rate, which ranks as fifth-best in the South Atlantic League among qualified batters, Gonzales has shown all the makings of a hitter with significant upside. He still has a long way to go to fully realize his potential, but so far he’s doing everything the Red Sox could have hoped to take the next step as a hitter.
Triple-A: Seigler, Gamboa stand out
Two of the three players the Red Sox received from the Milwaukee Brewers in their mid-February trade are up in the majors, Caleb Durbin and Andruw Monasterio. The third, infielder Anthony Seigler, just wrapped up an impressive month with Triple-A Worcester, where he hit .344/.468/.531 in 18 games, led the club with 14 RBI, 14 walks, and a 1.4 walk-to-strikeout ratio. Seigler tied for the team lead in hits (22) and home runs (3).
Left-hander Alex Gamboa pitched to a 1.89 ERA in five May games, with just four earned runs allowed over a team-leading 19 innings.
Fellow southpaw Eduardo Rivera was hot on Gamboa’s heels, with a 2.20 ERA over eight relief appearances and 19 strikeouts in 16 1/3 innings.
Lefty Jake Bennett made his major league debut May 1, a strong five innings of one-run ball. Even with two big-league games this month, he still led the WooSox pitching staff with 21 strikeouts in 13 1/3 innings across three starts.
Is this the year erstwhile top pitching prospect Noah Song finally makes it to the majors? The Red Sox drafted the righty, now 29, in the fourth round in 2019, but lost him to the U.S. Navy from 2020-22, then to the Philadelphia Phillies in the ‘22 Rule 5 Draft. After the Phillies returned him to the Red Sox in August 2023, Song missed time due to undergoing Tommy John surgery in March 2024. But Song is now with the WooSox and pitched to a 2.25 ERA, 0.67 WHIP and 0.98 opponent average over seven May relief appearances. Command is something of an issue though. Song struck out 13 batters in 12 innings but also issued four walks and hit two batters last month.
As for when Kristian Campbell will make it back to the big leagues, his May numbers didn’t paint a convincing picture. He slashed .188/.354/.297, though his 13 walks were second-most on the roster.
Outfielder Braiden Ward is nearing a unique franchise record. He is seven hit-by-pitches away from becoming the first player in Red Sox Triple-A history to steal 20 bases and receive 20 HBP in a single season. It wouldn’t be Ward’s first record-breaking achievement this year. In mid-March, he became the first player with at least 17 preseason steals since Major League Baseball began tracking spring training stats in 2006.
Double-A: Brannon, Garcia mashing
Limited by injuries and other setbacks throughout his professional career, Brooks Brannon hasn’t really had a chance to settle into a rhythm since the Red Sox picked him in the ninth round of the 2022 MLB Draft. But now Brannon is finally putting things together and is emerging as one of the most prolific power hitters in the organization.
So far Brannon has seven home runs with 24 RBI and a .995 OPS through in 26 games. The first baseman was particularly dominant in May, going deep five times while batting .308 for the month, and he’s significantly improved his walk rate from 2025, going from 7% to 14%.
Johanfran Garcia, the brother of former Red Sox outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia, is also enjoying a resurgence after a challenging recovery from a serious knee injury suffered in 2024. The catcher batted .268 with seven home runs and an .862 OPS over 20 games in May.
Franklin Arias, Boston’s top position player prospect, saw his production dip somewhat early in May but finished the month strong to bat .294 with four home runs and an .883 OPS for the month. Right-hander Anthony Eyanson has continued to impress since his promotion to Double-A in early May. He’s posted a 2.77 ERA with 16 strikeouts over 13 innings in his first three starts with the Sea Dogs.
Portland’s most productive pitcher recently has been Blake Wehunt, a 25-year-old right-hander who posted a 2.05 ERA with 28 strikeouts and five walks over 17 1/3 innings in four starts in May.
High-A: May belonged to Winnay
Greenville is a hotbed of prospect talent this spring, particularly in the power-hitting infield department. Jack Winnay, Yoeilin Cespedes, Mason White and Henry Godbout are all coming off a tremendous month.
May belonged to Winnay, who slashed .290/.490/.623 with seven homers in 21 games. The infielder/outfielder impressed with plate discipline as well as power potential, with a 26-to-23 walk-to-strikeout ratio.
Cespedes posted a .315/.333/.494 line and tallied 28 hits, four doubles, four homers, 17 runs and 14 RBI in 20 May games. The 20-year-old infielder is also capable of mashing against both right- and left-handed pitching. He’s slashing .284/.335/.527 in 164 plate appearances against righties this year, and .469/.500/.750 in 36 plate appearances against lefties.
White hit .342 with a 1.044 OPS, four doubles, a triple and five homers among his 26 hits, with 12 runs and 17 RBI in 21 games.
Godbout also mashed and flashed his plate discipline in May, batting .286 with a .979 OPS, four doubles, four homers, and an equal amount of walks and strikeouts, 13 apiece.
Right-hander Kyson Witherspoon’s first professional season got off to a difficult start, but he turned a corner in mid-May. After pitching to a 7.13 ERA over five April starts and allowing a combined seven earned runs over the first two of his four May starts, Witherspoon finished the month with one earned run in 9 1/3 innings over the last two outings. On the final day of May he turned in his best performance by far, his first scoreless outing and first time completing five innings.
Red Sox pitching prospect Leighton Finley, shown here pitching for the University of Georgia, has gotten off to a strong start to his professional career at Low-A Salem. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)
Low-A: Azocar promoted after hot start
Enddy Azocar, one of the fastest rising prospects in the Red Sox system, was recently promoted to High-A Greenville after a dominant start with the Salem RidgeYaks. The 19-year-old outfielder, who is Boston’s No. 10 prospect per MLB Pipeline, earned the call-up after batting .295 with six home runs, 26 RBI and an .875 OPS in 39 games with Salem.
D’Angelo Ortiz, the son of Red Sox legend David Ortiz, is performing well in his first full season at Low-A. The 21-year-old corner infielder batted .250 with a .729 OPS and more walks (11) than strikeouts (7) for the month of May.
Right-hander Leighton Finley, a sixth-round pick out of Georgia from last summer’s draft, has gotten off to a strong start to his first professional season, posting a 3.19 ERA over his first eight outings while leading the RidgeYaks in innings (36 2/3).
Rookie ball: Andujar earns quick call-up
Louis Andujar, an 18-year-old infielder, was recently called up to Low-A after an electric start in the Florida Complex League. Originally signed for $20,000 out of the Dominican Republic, Andujar dominated the competition in rookie ball by batting .404 with a 1.214 OPS in 15 games.
Sadbiel Delzine, the highest-paid pitcher in last year’s international signing class, quickly made his mark in the FCL as well. The 18-year-old right-hander has posted a 1.42 ERA with 14 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings in his first four starts this season.