Justin Connell

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 185 lb.

• High School American Heritage School

• Born March 11, 1999 in Barcelona, Catalonia Spain

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Justin Connell has played in the minors and for the Spanish national team.

He hit only .218 as a high school senior but was still taken by the Washington Nationals in the 11th round of the 2017 amateur draft and signed for a $125,000 bonus. The scout was Jim Gonzales. He had a fine pro debut, hitting .323/.407/.365 for the GCL Nationals that summer.

In 2018, he was with the GCL Nationals (.244/.341/.293 in 25 G) and Auburn Doubledays (.263/.420/.290 in 14 G), drawing 21 walks in 39 games. He had eight outfield assists for the '19 Hagerstown Suns while producing at a .249/.337/.321 clip. The 2020 minor league season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, he batted .293/.356/.398 for the Wilmington Blue Rocks. He tied for 4th in High-A East in triples with five.

Connell split 2022 between the Blue Rocks (.254/.338/.427 in 20 G) and Harrisburg Senators (.230/.345/.396), with 14 homers and 70 runs on the year. He was 5th in the Nationals chain in runs (between Yasel Antuna and Viandel Pena) and tied Andrew Young for 8th in dingers. Having been born in Barcelona, he then appeared for Spain in the 2022 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers (Jorge Balboa was their only other player born in Spain). Hitting sixth and playing right in their opener versus South Africa, he lined out against Justin Erasmus his first time up but homered the next trip up for the first run of the qualifiers. He also got the second run when he doubled off Jared Elario in the 6th and scored on a double by Lesther Galván. He hit .467/.438/.733 with four runs and five RBI in four games. He tied for 7th in the qualifiers in runs and tied for fifth in RBI (with Martin Červenka, Demetrius Moorer, Anfernee Seymour and Eduardo Zurbriggen).