Red Sox pitching prospect Wikelman Gonzalez put the finishing touches on an impressive month of June on Friday night.
Gonzalez made his 14th start of the season for High-A Greenville in its 8-0 win over the Asheville Tourists at McCormick Field. The young right-hander tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and three walks to go along with 10 strikeouts to mark his second straight double-digit strikeout game and third of the year overall.
After retiring the first five batters he faced, Gonzalez issued a two-out walk in the bottom of the second. He then worked his way around a leadoff double in the third before stranding another base runner in the fourth and facing the minimum in the fifth. In the sixth, he recorded two quick outs before issuing a two-out walk to the last Tourist hitter he faced in Ryan Clifford. Gonzalez was then relieved by Casey Cobb, who ended the inning on four pitches.
Gonzalez himself finished with 90 pitches (58 strikes), inducing 17 swings-and-misses in the process of picking up his sixth winning decision of the season. In five June starts, the 21-year-old hurler went 4-0 with a 2.42 ERA and 2.38 FIP to go along with 43 strikeouts to 12 walks over 26 innings of work.
On the 2023 campaign as a whole, Gonzalez has pitched to a 4.50 ERA (3.41 FIP) with a South Atlantic League-leading 97 strikeouts to 40 walks in 58 innings for Greenville. Coming into play on Saturday, Gonzalez ranked first among qualified Sally League pitchers in strikeouts per nine innings (15.05) and strikeout rate (38 percent). He also ranked third in batting average against (.192), fifth in swinging-strike rate (16 percent), fifth in FIP, and sixth in xFIP (3.67), per FanGraphs.
A native of Venezuela, Gonzalez is in the midst of his fourth professional season after originally signing with the Red Sox for $250,000 as an international free agent coming out of Maracay in July 2018. The 6-foot, 167-pound righty throws from a three-quarters arm slot and operates with a four-pitch mix that consists of an upper-90s fastball, an upper-80s changeup, an upper-70s curveball, and an upper-80s slider. He is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 12 prospect in Boston’s farm system, which ranks fourth among pitchers in the organization.
Gonzalez, who does not turn 23 until next March, can become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this winter if he is not added to the Red Sox’ 40-man roster by the deadline to do so in November. Assuming that he is not traded away within the next month, Gonzalez could be a candidate to make the jump from Greenville to Double-A Portland on the other side of the All-Star break — if not sooner.
Promoting Gonzalez would allow the Red Sox to evaluate how he fares against more advanced competition at the Double-A level. It would also give Gonzalez the opportunity to show other teams what he is capable of if he is made available later this month or down the road in December.
(Picture of Wikelman Gonzalez: Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com)
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