FORT MYERS, Fla. — Wikelman Gonzalez and Luis Perales, the Red Sox’ top two pitching prospects, both somehow remember the exact time assistant GM Eddie Romero called them Nov. 14.
“It was 5:27 when Eddie gave me a call to tell me that I was going to be put on the 40-man roster,” Gonzalez said through translator Carlos Villoria Benítez here at JetBlue Park. “It was a great moment for me.”
Boston selected Gonzalez and Perales to the 40-man roster Nov. 14 to protect them from being available to other clubs in December’s Rule 5 Draft.
“4:47 in the afternoon,” Perales said through translator Daveson Pérez. “I had gone to sleep, took a nap at 3. And the call came in at 4:47.”
Gonzalez was at his apartment in Venezuela waiting for the start of a Zoom meeting with the pitching coordinators. Venezuela is an hour ahead of the eastern time zone. Perales was here in Fort Myers for a mini camp so Romero made the calls within a 20-minute span.
“I was dead asleep,” Perales said. “And when they called me, it was an exciting feeling to hear them say, ‘You’re a part of the 40-man roster.’”
Romero’s call didn’t go to voicemail. Perales heard the ring.
“I’m a light sleeper,” Perales said. “But they told me the day before, ‘Hey, you’re gonna get some good news tomorrow.’ So that kind of got me waiting to hear.”
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Perales’ mother, his biggest fan, is the first person he called.
“When I told her the news, she just started crying,” Perales said. “She didn’t even say anything. She just kept crying and crying. She’s someone who’s obviously really, really close to me. It was nice to give her that news. … She bet on me when I was just a little kid with a dream.”
Gonzalez’s parents were at his apartment when the righty learned the news. Gonzalez was in another room waiting for his Zoom call to start.
“I went right outside to talk to them,” Gonzalez said, adding his dad introduced him to baseball when he was 3 years old.
“And since, he’s been very strict with me,” Gonzalez added. “Sometimes I would cry (as a kid) because I didn’t want to play. But I would just come back to him and say, ‘Hey, I want to keep playing.’ So my dad is one of my biggest supporters and inspirations.”
Gonzalez called both his parents “his biggest fans.”
“We didn’t go out to eat but we brought some food (roasted chicken) into the house and we definitely celebrated,” Gonzalez said.
Both Gonzalez throw hard and have oodles of talent but they need to throw more strikes to remain starters. Baseball America’s projected 2027 Red Sox lineup has Gonzalez as the No. 3 starter and Perales as the team’s closer.
It should be interesting to see how the new pitching infrastructure Craig Breslow is putting into place helps Gonzalez, Perales and other young pitching prospects to take the next step. The new setup includes the additions of Andrew Bailey as pitching coach, Justin Willard as director of pitching and Kyle Boddy, the founder of Driveline Baseball, as a special advisor.
MassLive ranks Gonzalez No. 8 and Perales No. 9 on its Top 25 Red Sox prospect list.
Perales said he worked on his entire pitch mix and spent a lot of time in the weight room building strength this offseason. He also added to his pitch mix that already included a fastball, cutter, slider and changeup.
“Right now I’m just working on a split, which is a new pitch,” Perales said. “Hopefully that will help me in the future.”
Baseball America ranks Perales’ fastball, which has topped out at 98 mph and has ride, the best fastball in the Red Sox’ minor league system. He considers his slider — which has horizontal movement — his best secondary pitch.
“This is a very important year for me,” Perales said. “And I want to be strong and healthy for the whole season.”
The righty finished with a 3.91 ERA in 21 starts between Low-A Salem and High-A Greenville in ‘23. He held opponents to a .230 batting average. He had the 10th best strikeout percentage (29.3%) among Red Sox minor league pitchers. He punched out 115 of the 393 batters he faced. When he got into trouble, it was mostly because of command. He walked 50 batters in 89 ⅔ innings.
He said being added to the 40-man roster “is a big step forward.”
“At the end of the day, you have to continue to work and you have to continue to get better,” he said. “And my thinking is you can’t take anything for granted when you’re in this position. So I’m just going to keep getting better and whatever happens, it’s not up to me. The only thing I can control is that.”
Gonzalez — who grew up a big fan of Venezuelan star pitcher Félix Hernández — throws a fastball that was between 94-99 mph in 2023, a changeup, curveball and cutter. He considers his changeup his second best pitch while Baseball America lists his curveball as the best curve in the Red Sox’ minor league system.
“I definitely need to take advantage of the opportunity,” Gonzalez said about being added to the 40-man roster. “I need to improve. I need to get better so when that call comes, I’m ready and I’m prepared to embrace that opportunity. Definitely I need to keep working hard so when I get the call I’ll be able to stay for a long time.”
Gonzalez was named Red Sox 2023 minor league Pitcher of the Year. He was second among Red Sox minor league pitchers, and first among starters, in strikeout percentage (35.2%, 168 strikeouts, 477 batters faced). He finished the season at Double-A Portland where he recorded a 2.42 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, .162 batting average against, 63 strikeouts and 28 walks in 10 starts (48 ⅓ innings).
“I was trying to improve my cutter and to be in the zone — throw strikes,” he said about what he worked on during the offseason.
Gonzalez also took time to enjoy himself this past winter.
“For me, the offseason is to spend a lot of time with my family, with my nieces, with my fiancée,” he said. “I just had a great time with my nieces. I enjoy them and having fun with them. For me, the offseason is to spend with the family.”
