Gonzalez bounces back nicely after rough start
From the time the Red Sox signed Wikelman Gonzalez out of Venezuela in 2018, the righthander has displayed the swing-and-miss stuff to create daydreams of considerable potential. His upside ranked with that of any pitcher in the system.
“The fastball plays, he has a fourpitch repertoire, and he’s got a starter’s build and stamina,” summarized Sox assistant general manager Eddie Romero.
Though Gonzalez struggled at the start of 2022, he closed the year on a tremendous run to earn a year-ending promotion to High A Greenville. He had a strong spring, setting expectations that he might push quickly to get to Double A this season.
But in the first month, the reality of Gonzalez’s performance was divorced dramatically from his promise. He pitched just 8„ innings across four starts, with more walks (16) and runs (16) than strikeouts (14). The 21-yearold’s inability to throw strikes was alarming.
“His April was as bad as it could be,” said director of pitching development Shawn Haviland.
Certainly, there were mechanical issues — not shocking given what team officials describe as “hyper-mobility” that lends itself to unusual release angles — but they believed the issues went deeper.
Greenville pitching coach Bob Kipper and pitching coordinator Nick Otte sat down with Gonzalez to get to the root of his struggles.
“I’ll give Wiki a lot of credit because he revealed things to us that we could not have known,” said Kipper. “It really came down to the pressure that he was putting on himself, the negative thoughts that he was having before an outing even took place, the pressures he was feeling at home, particularly in the wake of his poor performances early on in the season.
“It was affecting how he ate, affecting how he slept — all things that we were beginning to see. He didn’t have energy. If he had a good inning, he couldn’t sustain it. It began to explain a lot.”
The meeting also offered the Sox a chance to explain to Gonzalez the purpose underlying some of his betweenstarts work — the type of work that might be necessary to improve delivery stability and allow the pitcher to harness his mid-90s fastball, curve, changeup, and newly introduced cutter in the strike zone.
The coaches talked to Gonzalez about the need to think not about upcoming starts but about the responsibilities of each individual day, the need for intent when playing catch, in side work, in strength-and-conditioning outings.
“We talked about winning the day,” said Kipper. “You’re going to wake up every day, you’re going to go to the ballpark, you’re going to win the day. When you win the day, you’re going to go home, you’re going to feel really good about you because you dominated the day, and you’re going to sleep really well because of that.
“That’s really how it started. He started feeling good about Wiki Gonzalez again.”
Gonzalez’s next start represented a breakthrough: five innings of one-run ball in which he struck out nine and walked one. That was the start of a remarkable run that now spans 13 starts and two minor league levels.
Over that time, Gonzalez — who was promoted to Double A Portland in midJuly — is 7-1 with a 2.98 ERA, .181 opponents’ average, 41 percent strikeout rate, and 11 percent walk rate. He was brilliant in his first two starts with the Sea Dogs (12 innings, 1 run, 19 strikeouts). For the year, Gonzalez leads minor leaguers who have thrown at least 70 innings with a 38-percent strikeout rate.
“What he went through the first three weeks of the season to where he is now, it’s two different guys,” said Kipper.
The difference starts with fastball command.
“Sometimes pitchers and even coaches think it needs to be stuff vs. command,” said farm director Brian
Abraham. “It can be both. You can work on pitch design and swing-and-miss, but also still work on command.”
This year, for many pitchers, the Sox have emphasized the point in betweenstarts work, dividing the strike zone into ninths — a tic-tac-toe board, slicing it into thirds horizontally and vertically, numbering each section.
A coach might yell a pitch type and number to suggest a specific location to target. “Fastball, 5,” for instance, calls for a middle-middle fastball. Kipper often asked Gonzalez to target that location, understanding that his distinct traits — a low release point with a fastball that has excellent carry at the top of the zone, resulting in heaters that can explode above hitters’ bats — would take it to an effective location.
The results have been dramatic.
“It’s a very significant jump and puts him right there in line with what major league starters need to do,” said Haviland.
“He probably went from close to 30grade command [on the 20-to-80 scale, where 50 is average] and it’s now in that 45- to 50-grade command.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done as the hitters get better and the zone gets smaller. He’s going to have to improve but he’s made a lot of progress.”
As promising as Gonzalez’s pure stuff has been, his ability to adjust in the face of struggles may be even more significant.
“He had never failed, by his own admission, to the extent he failed this year early in the season,” said Kipper. “It requires tremendous courage to be able to respond and recover from something that he went through.
“Wikelman Gonzalez can be as good as he wants to be. I think he has the potential to be a really, really good major league starting pitcher.”
Three up
■ Corner outfielder Corey Rosier, acquired last year from the Padres in the Eric Hosmer deal, has had a strong year in Double A Portland. With a July power surge (four homers), the 23-year-old is hitting .303/.363/.476 with 37 steals in 43 attempts.
■ In five July starts spanning 28 innings for Greenville, righthander Angel Bastardo struck out 42 and walked seven with a 2.89 ERA.
■ After hitting .188/.335/.241 with one homer through 39 games, 19-yearold infielder Cutter Coffey has posted a .285/.372/.489 line with six homers in his last 35 games for Low A Salem.
Three down
■ Portland second baseman Nick Yorke hasn’t played since July 20 because of what the Sox view as a minor Achilles’ injury. He was hitting .211/ .241/.312 with a 32 percent strikeout rate since June 11.
■ While righthander Luis Guerrero has been largely unhittable in Portland, the 22-year-old has struggled to throw strikes this month, walking nine batters in 5„ innings to increase his walk rate to 17 percent.
■ High A outfielder Roman Anthony has struck out 19 times in 40 plate appearances in his last nine games. Still, the 19-year-old is hitting .302/.446/.677 in 27 games since his promotion.