Buster Posey's gamble on young SF Giants prospect seen as boom or bust move

One of the first big things Buster Posey did as SF Giants president of baseball operations on the prospect front was sign Josuar Gonzalez out of the Dominican Republic. After Roki Sasaki, Gonzalez was considered the best international free agent in that class and the Giants signed him to a roughly $3 million deal. It’s always a gamble when a team signs a 17-year-old, but Gonzalez seems like he could either end up being a star or a huge bust.

FanSided recently released its top-100 prospects list for 2026 and Gonzalez was ranked No. 26 overall. Here is what Eric Cole wrote about the now 18-year-old Gonzalez:

“Josuar Gonzalez may be the name with the largest variance in these entire rankings. If the scouting reports are true, Gonzalez's all-around skill set could make him a threat to take the top overall spot in a couple of years. If not, he could tumble out of the top 100 altogether.”

Variance in Josuar Gonzalez's potential is exciting but also scary

That’s just how it goes with some of these prospects. On paper, it looks like the sky’s the limit for Gonzalez. He’s young, he’s a switch-hitter, and he’s a stellar defender. Some have compared him to Jose Reyes and Francisco Lindor which makes one's mouth water just typing it. But he’s also just a kid and the Giants have seen two of their recent high-profile international signings, Luis Matos and Marco Luciano, completely flame out.

Maybe the fact that Gonzalez is being developed under a new regime will help, but until Giants fans see one of these young international signings actually pan out there will understandably be a wary eye cast towards them.

The Giants signed shortstop Luis Hernandez out of Venezuela this year for $5 million so they are doubling down on young shortstops hoping at least one of them will actually turn into a solid big league player.

We don’t have a ton of numbers to give us a hint as to how Gonzalez is doing so far. Last year in San Francisco’s Dominican League he hit .288/.404/.455 with four home runs and 24 runs batted in and stole 33 bases. The talent is clearly there, now it’s a matter of refining it and making sure it translates when he faces tougher competition.

The current projection is that he will make his big league debut in 2029. Maybe he will be the top prospect in baseball at that point or maybe we will have forgotten him. Or maybe the Giants will have traded him away for someone else.

We just don’t know at this point which is why there is so much variance with the young Dominican shortstop. It’s exciting but at the same time terrifying to think about. 

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