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Red Sox 2025 second-round draft pick ‘certain’ he can be ‘30-home run guy’
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- Red Sox 2025 second-round draft pick ‘certain’ he can be ‘30-home run guy’
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox infield prospect Henry Godbout 's 2025 pre-draft scouting report resembled Kristian Campbell 's in 2023.
Baseball America highlighted both Campbell's and Godbout's elite contact rates and in-zone contact rates in college. Concerns also existed about both lacking power. That's one of the reasons why Campbell dropped to the fourth round in the 2023 draft, as Campbell's signing scout Kirk Fredriksson pointed out .
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Baseball America, meanwhile, graded Godbout's power 40 (below average) on its 20-80 grading scale.
"From a hitting-style piece, I would say there's some similarities," Godbout said about him and Campbell. "Both good bat-to-ball guys."
Boston drafted Godbout, a 6-foot-2, 210-pounder, in the second round (75th overall) out of the University of Virginia last July and signed him to a $1.0938 million bonus.
The Sox assigned him to High-A Greenville on Aug. 6 where he went 15-for-44 (.341) with a .473 on-base percentage, zero homers, six doubles, nine walks and six strikeouts in 13 games.
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The question heading into the 22-year-old's first full professional season is: Can the Red Sox unlock Godbout's power like they did with Campbell?
Godbout said he and the Red Sox "have been working on it" since the first day.
"The Red Sox do a great job of developing power, so I think it's a perfect fit," Godbout said.
"Being a 30-home run guy would be a big boost to my offensive profile. I know I can do it," Godbout added. "So just figuring out how do we do that?"
The Red Sox revamped Campbell's swing and increased his bat speed, resulting in him leading all Boston minor leaguers with 55 extra-base hits in 2024.
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Godbout has embraced Boston's bat speed program and said it has already led to him hitting the ball harder.
"Bat speed's already up a good amount," he said.
"We do this thing called the monster cage that kind of tracks how your body moves. So yeah, we talk about it (swing angle/path), but for me it's the biggest thing is swinging faster," Godbout added.
There is often a trade-off when a player makes changes to add power — with more bat speed and an emphasis on hitting the ball at a certain angle to drive it in the air, contact often declines. Strikeout rates increase.
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"I wouldn't call it a trade," Godbout said. "I would say quality contact is a big focus. ... I would say I'm going to maintain my contact ability. That's an important part of the game."
Pitch selection has always been one of Godbout's strengths. The Red Sox' hitting development program focuses on bat speed, swing decisions, batted ball quality and swing characteristics .
"The biggest thing, and I already started doing it when I got to pro ball, is when you swing at the pitch, make sure it's a pitch you can drive instead of just trying to make contact just to make contact," he said.
Godbout had an 86% overall contact rate and a 91% in-zone contact rate at Virginia, per Baseball America. Those are very similar to Campbell's overall contact rate (90%) and in-zone contact rate (94%) in his final year at Georgia Tech.
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"I haven't really watched him (Campbell) play, so I can't really say whether I'm similar to him in any other aspects of the game," Godbout said. "But for my skill set, the Red Sox player development program is perfect because I make a lot of contact, good swing decisions. That's kind of always been a big part of my game. So hitting the ball harder, which I've already started to do. Putting the ball in the air more."
He's using spring training as a time to experiment. He acknowledged the adjustment period hasn't been seamless.
"There's going to be some learning curves," Godbout said. "The past few weeks, I would say have been a little tougher in the at-bats, but it's something we knew coming into it — like figuring out, 'OK, we're going to try this today, see if it works. Oh, it doesn't work. All right. We're going to try something else and kind of figuring out a plan.'"
He knows what they are working on will eventually play in games.
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"I'm certain that I'll hit 25 to 30 home runs, if not more," he said.
Godbout said he worked on moving better and gaining more strength in the offseason.
"I try not to look at stuff online but I've seen stuff like, 'Oh, is he really going to be able to defend at an elite level?' Or 'Can he play shortstop?' I know I can," Godbout said. "I can play an elite second base and elite shortstop. But I was definitely not moving as well as I wanted to last year. So that was a big focus in the offseason."
His Baseball America scouting report grades his fielding 45 (fringe average), noting "he's most likely a second baseman or perhaps third baseman whose primary value will be his bat."
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"I'm already moving a lot better in the infield, getting to balls that are harder to get to," Godbout said. "And then I would say I think I even leaned up a little bit. I didn't gain much weight, but I definitely gained some strength."
He said he worked on explosive movements.
"Lifting heavier weights, but also moving fast while you're doing it and sprinting," he said.
Godbout never stole more than nine bags in any season at Virginia but he feels like speed can be part of his game.
"I think I can play with speed, steal some bags," he said. "I haven't really shown that in the past, but I really think I'm going to open some eyes this year with that."
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Growing up a Red Sox fan
Godbout was born and raised in Manhattan but he grew up a Red Sox fan because his dad is from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. He also said his mother is from the "Red Sox half" of Connecticut.
Getting drafted by the Red Sox was something he had always wanted.
"I knew they were interested," Godbout said. "To be perfectly candid, I didn't have the year I wanted to. So I thought that there's a possibility I could get to that spot that I got to. There were some teams earlier on that we were talking to, and it could have happened. But I was definitely hammering the table, saying, 'Get me to the Red Sox.'"
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The Red Sox used the compensatory draft pick they received after the Padres signed Nick Pivetta to select Godbout.
"I think everything happens for a reason, and I've talked to a lot of people in this organization. I just feel like it's kind of meant to be, honestly," he added.
Godbout was teammates with Red Sox rookie Connelly Early at Virginia. Godbout was in the stands at Yankee Stadium when Early pitched Game 3 of the AL Wild Card Series against the Yankees .
"So I went there to support him and wore some Red Sox gear," he said.
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