{"id":123931,"date":"2026-06-17T14:26:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T18:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=123931"},"modified":"2026-06-17T14:26:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T18:26:55","slug":"red-sox-util-gonzalez-rehab-assignment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/06\/17\/red-sox-util-gonzalez-rehab-assignment\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox Utility Infielder Commences Rehab Assignment; Gonzalez Poised for Return"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Red Sox\u2019s biggest problem over the past few years (position-wise) has easily been second base. Since beloved franchise star<\/span> Dustin Pedroia<\/span><\/a> retired, the glove at second has gone through several players, from <\/span>Brock Holt<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Kike Hernandez<\/span><\/a> to <\/span>Jose Peraza<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Christian Arroyo<\/span><\/a>. Since<\/span> Kristian Campbell<\/span><\/a> flamed out quickly<\/span><\/a> in the majors (at least for now), the Red Sox have found themselves in that cycle again. However, one of the more consistent names over the past couple of seasons seems to be coming back soon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Romy Gonzalez Starts Rehab Stint In Portland\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Romy Gonzalez<\/span><\/a> was one of the more important bench\/utility players on last year\u2019s playoff team. In 96 games he hit .305 with nine homers and 53 RBIs. Along with <\/span>Rob Refsnyder<\/span><\/a>, he was a key piece outside the starting nine in the Red Sox\u2019s push to the playoffs last year. Defensively, he had three errors in 42 games, with a DRS of -1. As seen, he\u2019s not the best fielder. But his ability to make contact (.378 BABIP) and get on base (.343) is what makes him valuable on this squad. This is seen through his 2.1 WAR, which ranked ninth among Boston batters in ’25 (eighth if <\/span>Rafael Devers<\/span><\/a> is excluded).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He has yet to make his debut this season, however, with a <\/span>left shoulder injury<\/span><\/a> that\u2019s kept him out since the end of last season. However, he has started his rehab stint at the Double A level in Portland and has already seemed to make an impact.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

ROMY GONZALEZ GOES DEEP IN HIS FIRST REHAB GAME! I HAVE MISSED THAT SWING VERY MUCH!<\/p>\n

(Also, not even a lefty) pic.twitter.com\/OjoGKobuF3<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) June 16, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gonzalez\u2019s Impact In Boston\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Gonzalez may not be a standout in the lineup like <\/span>Wilyer Abreu<\/span><\/a> was last season or how <\/span>Willson Contreras<\/span><\/a> is now. But he can do some great things with the Sox. He\u2019s in the 95th percentile for average exit velocity at 93.3 mph and the 99th percentile for Hard Hit % at 57.3%. His <\/span>spray chart<\/span><\/a> shows he\u2019s versatile and can hit it to any area of the field.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s able to hit breaking pitches really well, bolstering a .327 average in \u201825. But the key thing for this team is he can <\/span>really <\/span><\/i>hit lefties. He\u2019s not a slugger or anything, but a .331 average is more than serviceable. With RISP, he hit .315. It just seems that batting-wise, excluding power, any problems that they have this year could be solved by Gonzalez coming back to this roster.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Red Sox’s Current Second Base Situation<\/b><\/h2>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Currently, second base is wide open for this Boston team. With <\/span>Trevor Story<\/span><\/a> going down with <\/span>an injury<\/span><\/a> and having then-second baseman <\/span>Marcelo Mayer<\/span><\/a> move back to his natural position at shortstop, there\u2019s a plethora of guys playing the position so far: <\/span>Isiah Kiner-Falefa<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Andruw Monasterio<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Anthony Seigler<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Nick Sogard<\/span><\/a> all have taken time there this season too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But it would be nice to have consistency at the position. Kiner-Falefa\u2019s on a <\/span>one-year deal <\/span><\/a>currently, while everyone else is around till at least 2029, including Gonzalez. While obviously, not all of them can be up in the majors at the same time, if Gonzalez has a return to form upon coming back to Boston, he would be the <\/span>best option<\/span><\/a>, almost by far.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Last Word: Will Romy Gonzalez Be Good Post-Rehab?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Only time will tell whether he can return to proper form at the majors immediately after being out so long. And while defensively, there\u2019s not a whole lot to look at (-4 DRS for his career at that position). But his productive bat would add a breath of fresh air to this lineup looking for consistent hitting that isn\u2019t Abreu, Contreras, or <\/span>Ceddane Rafaela<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This offense, while being 11th in batting average, is struggling in almost every other department, ranking in the bottom 10 for hits, OBP, and OPS and second worst in homers, RBIs, runs, and walks. Bringing a guy back who can get on base and get runners to score should surely help.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Image Credit:<\/strong> Eric Canha-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Red Sox\u2019s biggest problem over the past few years (position-wise) has easily been second base. Since beloved franchise star Dustin Pedroia retired, the glove at second has gone through several players, from Brock Holt and Kike Hernandez to Jose Peraza and Christian Arroyo. Since Kristian Campbell flamed out quickly in the majors (at least […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5767,"featured_media":123933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1071],"tags":[29165,4640,240,4809,4897,29531,6276,624],"class_list":["post-123931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-redsox","category-mlb","tag-andruw-monasterio","tag-anthony-seigler","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-isiah-kiner-falefa","tag-marcelo-mayer","tag-red-sox","tag-romy-gonzalez","tag-trevor-story"],"modified_by":"Matthew Nethercott, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5767"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123931"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123935,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123931\/revisions\/123935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}