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Red Sox prospect described as ‘big unit,’ ‘physical specimen’ and ‘big man on campus’

· Yahoo Sports

HOUSTON — Red Sox players have several ways of describing 6-foot-6, 260-pound outfield/first-base prospect Justin Gonzales.

“Obviously he’s a physical specimen,” Marcelo Mayer said. “He’s huge.”

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“Big unit,” Carlos Narváez said.

“An Oneil Cruz-type tool set,” Isiah Kiner-Falefa added.

Baseball America ranks the 19-year-old Dominican Republic native Boston’s No. 7 overall prospect while MLB Pipeline puts him at No. 6 in the system.

Gonzales should be one of Boston’s most discussed prospects during the 2026 season. He opened plenty of eyes while playing in three major league spring training games. He had a single that left his bat at 117.3 mph in a Grapefruit League game on March 2, tied for the third hardest exit velocity in spring training.

“He’s one of the biggest guys I’ve ever played with,” Mayer said. “He’s just way bigger than everybody else and he hits the ball way harder than everybody else.”

Only Royals’ Jac Caglianone (120.2 mph double) and Reds’ Rece Hinds (119.6 mph home run) produced higher exit velocities in spring training games.

“Just the tools,” Kiner-Falefa said. “I think he threw a ball 99 (mph) and then hit the ball 117 (mph).”

Baseball America grades Gonzales’ arm 60 (plus) on the 20-80 grading scale. He had a 98.1 mph throw in the air from right field to third base in the same spring game as his 117.3 mph exit velocity.

“I think honestly, he was kind of like the big man on campus during spring training and now the lights are coming on soon, by the end of this week,” Red Sox assistant GM Eddie Romero said.

Gonzales will begin this season at High-A Greenville, where he finished last season. The Drive open their regular season Thursday at home against Greensboro.

Low-A Salem also opens its regular season on Thursday. Double-A Portland opens Friday.

Romero said it will be good for Gonzales to get in game situations and continue to practice what he worked on throughout the offseason with ball flight, swing decisions and sharpening his eye at the plate.

“There’s so much you can do fundamentally. Now it’s game time and it’s time to kind of put those things into play,” Romero said.

Red Sox players were also impressed with Gonzales’ personality and maturity.

“He’s a really great, outgoing guy and he’s super social,” Mayer said. “So I’ve had a good amount of conversations with him.”

Gonzales wants to be great, telling The Boston Globe in February, “The goal is to be like Aaron Judge.”

“You can’t shy away from wanting to like somebody great,” Romero said. “We know how hard Aaron Judge has worked to get to where he is and what a class leader he is and an overall professional. So that’s a great player to model your game after. And I think because of some of the physical similarities, that’s an easy comp.”

Judge is listed at 6-foot-7, 282 pounds. Gonzales — whose father is 6-foot-4 and whose mother is 6-foot-3 — could still be growing. He just turned 19 on Dec. 31.

“When somebody asks for a comp, you always want to say someone that’s kind of in relation to you body-wise and stuff like that,” Mayer said. “So it definitely makes sense for him to say that. Obviously if he can turn out to be like Aaron Judge, that’d be great for our organization.”

Romero said Gonzales has the work ethic, wanting to be great not only as a hitter but also as a fielder.

“He cares about his defense,” Romero said.

Kiner-Falefa added, “The raw talent, raw power, arm strength, size, I think it’s unique. And he moved well, too.“

Both Narváez and Kiner-Falefa described Gonzales as a hitter who can absolutely “smash” the baseball.

Only 11 balls hit in play in the major leagues last season had an exit velocity harder than 117.3 mph. Judge, who ranked in the 100th percentile in average exit velocity (95.4 mph), had one of those 11 hits — an 118.1 mph single last July 2.

Only eight balls were put in play with an exit velocity of 117 mph or harder during 2026 major league spring training games:

  • Royals’ Jac Caglianone 120.2 mph double Feb. 26
  • Reds’ Rece Hinds 119.6 mph home run March 9
  • Red Sox’ Justin Gonzales 117.3 mph single March 2
  • Athletics’ Shea Langeliers 117.3 mph home run March 20
  • Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton 117.3 mph single March 23
  • Cardinals’ Jordan Walker 117.2 mph single Feb. 28
  • Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani 117.1 mph double March 22
  • Athletics’ Colby Thomas 117.0 mph home run March 13

“There’s a lot more that goes into exit velo than just the height,” Romero said. “It’s the strength that he has. It’s the swing decisions. It’s the ability to manipulate the barrel. So we’re talking bat speed, bat path and the ability in less than a couple eighths of a second to decide if I’m going to swing. He’s been doing a good job with that.”

The contact rate is there, too — he posted a strong strikeout percentage of 14.6% last year in the minors.

“He has all the talent in the world,” Mayer said. “It’s all a matter of just getting the at-bats, putting it together.”

Kiner-Falefa added, “He’s definitely a big leaguer.”

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