Tag: bryan gonzalez

Red Sox power-hitting prospect Bryan Gonzalez named 2024 South Atlantic League All-Star

Red Sox power-hitting prospect Bryan Gonzalez has been named a 2024 South Atlantic League All-Star, Minor League Baseball announced on Thursday.

Gonzalez, who celebrated his 23rd birthday earlier this week, put up impressive power numbers in his second season with High-A Greenville. The right-handed hitting slugger batted .272/.337/.508 with 13 doubles, two triples, a career-high 20 home runs, 59 RBIs, 58 runs scored, 15 stolen bases, 29 walks, and 115 strikeouts in 91 games (362 plate appearances) for the Drive.

With 31 home runs in 201 games for Greenville dating back to the start of the 2023 campaign, Gonzalez now sits atop the leaderboard for most career homers in Drive franchise history. The record was previously held by Chris Turner, who connected on 29 total big flies over 187 games for Boston’s South Atlantic League affiliate from 2005-2006.

Gonzalez, meanwhile, was among the top power threats at his level this season. Of the 132 qualified hitters in High-A, Gonzalez finished with the second-most home runs, the second-highest slugging percentage, the fourth-highest isolated power mark (.235), the sixth-highest OPS (.845), and the eighth-highest wRC+ (136). He also ranked 20th in batting average, 59th in on-base percentage, and 66th in speed score (5.9), per FanGraphs.

Defensively, Gonzalez saw the majority of his playing time with Greenville this year come at first base. The burly 6-foot-1, 220-pounder made a team-leading 74 starts at first for the Drive and committed 14 errors in 537 chances. He also logged seven innings at third base, 22 innings in left field (where he recorded two outfield assists), and 88 innings in right field.

After Greenville’s season ended on September 8, Gonzalez and several of his teammates were promoted to Double-A Portland for the final week of the Eastern League regular season. He appeared in just two of the Sea Dogs’ six games against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies at Hadlock Field and went 0-for-2 with a strikeout as a pinch-hitter in both contests.

Gonzalez, who hails from the Dominican Republic, originally signed with the Red Sox for $500,000 as an international free agent coming out of Villa Mella in July 2018. Given the amount of swing-and-miss in his game, he is not currently regarded by publications such as SoxProspects.com as one of the top prospects in Boston’s farm system.

If Gonzalez, who is Rule 5-eligible this offseason, remains with the Red Sox through the winter, he is projected by SoxProspects.com to return to Portland in 2025.

(Picture of Bryan Gonzalez: Gwinn Davis/Greenville Drive)

Red Sox power-hitting prospect Bryan Gonzalez sets new franchise record for High-A Greenville

Red Sox power-hitting prospect Bryan Gonzalez made some history in High-A Greenville’s 4-3 loss to the Winston-Salem Dash at Fluor Field on Thursday night.

By crushing his 30th home run as a member of the Drive in the second inning of Thursday’s defeat, Gonzalez moved past Chris Turner for most homers in franchise history. Turner had held the record for the last 18 years after going deep 29 times for Greenville from 2005-2006.

Gonzalez, meanwhile, homered 11 times in 110 games for the Drive last season and connected on his team-leading 19th big fly of the 2024 campaign on Thursday. Batting cleanup, the 22-year-old slugger led off the bottom of the second by depositing a 434-foot solo shot off Dash starter Jake Bockenstedt into the apartments beyond the left-center field wall. He finished the night having gone 2-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts.

Following Thursday’s performance, the right-handed hitting Gonzalez is now batting .264/.331/.497 with 13 doubles, two triples, 19 home runs, 56 RBIs, 56 runs scored, 15 stolen bases, 29 walks, and 114 strikeouts in 89 games (353 plate appearances) for Greenville this season. That includes a .370/.439/.534 slash line over his last 21 games (82 plate appearances) dating back to August 6.

Among 48 qualified South Atlantic League hitters coming into play on Friday, Gonzalez ranks second in slugging percentage, third in OPS (.828) and isolated power (.233), fourth in wRC+ (132), ninth in batting average, and 23rd in on-base percentage, per FanGraphs.

On the other side of the ball, Gonzalez made his 72nd start of the season at first base for the Drive on Thursday night. There, the 6-foot-1, 220-pounder has committed 14 errors in 526 defensive chances. He has also started 10 games in right field, two games in left field (where he has recorded two outfield assists), and one game at third base.

Gonzalez, who turns 23 in less than two weeks, originally signed with the Red Sox for $500,000 as an international free agent coming out of the Dominican Republic in July 2018. The Villa Mella native earned mid-season Dominican Summer League All-Star honors as part of his professional debut in 2019 but is not currently regarded by publications such as SoxProspects.com as one of the top prospects in Boston’s farm system.

Assuming he ends the season in Greenville and remains in the organization through the winter, Gonzalez is projected by SoxProspects.com to make the jump to Double-A Portland in 2025.

(Picture of Bryan Gonzalez: Gwinn Davis/Greenville Drive)