Red Sox pitching prospect Wikelman Gonzalez has been named the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week for the week of July 17-23, Minor League Baseball announced on Monday.
Gonzalez fired six no-hit innings in Double-A Portland’s 6-2 win over the New Hampshire Fisher Cats at Hadlock Field on Sunday afternoon. The right-hander allowed one earned run on four walks, but he also struck out 10 to mark his fourth double-digit strikeout game of the season.
After issuing back-to-back walks to begin things in the first inning, Gonzalez settled into a groove and retired 15 consecutive batters at one point before running into some trouble with one out in the top of the sixth. There, he walked Steward Berroa — who stole second and third base — on six pitches and Riley Trotta — who stole second base — on five pitches.
With only one out and two runners in scoring position, Gonzalez yielded an RBI groundout to Alan Roden that actually got New Hampshire on the board first. The righty was able to limit the damage to one run, though, as he then got Damiano Palmegiani to fly out to left field to retire the side.
Going into their half of the sixth inning down a run, the Sea Dogs lineup responded by putting up a six-spot. Coming up to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded, Tyler McDonough and Matt Donlan came through with back-to-back two-run hits to put Portland up 4-1. Elih Marrero then doubled in Donlan before Chase Meidroth pushed across Marrero to extend the lead to five runs at 6-1 heading into the seventh.
Having thrown 91 pitches (52 strikes) to that point in the contest, Gonzalez’s day was over. The 21-year-old hurler induced 15 swings-and-misses while mixing in a 94-96 mph fastball, a 75-79 mph curveball, a changeup, and a slider, per SoxProspects.com’s director of scouting Ian Cundall.
In relief of Gonzalez, Brendan Cellucci received the first call out of the Sea Dogs bullpen and sat down six of the seven hitters he faced across two scoreless frames. Luis Guerrero then came on for the ninth and allowed a run to score on two walks and a sacrifice fly before ultimately closing it out to preserve the combined no-hit bid.
Sunday marked Portland’s second no-hitter of the season and seventh in franchise history. Back in early May, right-hander CJ Liu hurled seven no-hit innings as part of a 5-0 road win in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Akron RubberDucks.
Gonzalez, meanwhile, earned the winning decision in Sunday’s series finale against the Fisher Cats to move to 1-0 in his first two starts for the Sea Dogs. Since being promoted from High-A Greenville earlier this month, Gonzalez has allowed just one earned run on four hits and five walks to go along with 19 strikeouts over 12 innings of work with Portland. Opposing hitters are batting just .105 against him in that span.
A native of Venezuela, Gonzalez originally signed with the Red Sox for $250,000 as an international free agent coming out of Maracay in July 2018. The 6-foot, 167-pounder 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 22 until next March, can become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft later this winter. Assuming he remains in the organization past the trade deadline, the Red Sox would need to add Gonzalez to their 40-man roster by the protection deadline in November if they intend on preventing him from becoming Rule 5 eligible.
(Picture of Wikelman Gonzalez: Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.smugmug.com)
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