FORT MYERS, Fla. – After months of interest and exploring their options, the Red Sox have found their right-handed bat in free agent Alex Bregman, a club source confirmed.

The longtime Houston Astros third baseman is coming to Boston on a three-year, $120 million deal, which includes a pair of opt-outs and deferred salary.

Boston went into the offseason hoping to balance out its lefty-heavy lineup, and were linked to Bregman for months before agreeing to terms on Wednesday evening.

It’s something of a full-circle moment for the Red Sox, who have been tied to Bregman in a plethora of ways for over a decade. They were the first club to draft him, in the 29th round of the 2012 draft. Bregman, then a slugging high school second baseman, opted to honor his commitment to LSU instead. After a decorated college career, the Astros drafted him second overall in the 2015 draft.

The signing also reunites Bregman with Alex Cora, who served as Houston’s bench coach in ’17. A year later, Bregman was the batter robbed of a game-winning hit when Andrew Benintendi made his famous diving catch to save Game 4 of the ’18 ALCS.

Bregman, who turns 31 on March 30, comes to Boston a career .272 hitter with a .848 OPS over nine big-league seasons, including back-to-back All-Star selections in ’18 and ’19, and a Silver Slugger award in the latter. He helped lead the Astros to two World Series championships, in 2017 and 2022, and is coming off his first career Gold Glove season.

In 131 career plate appearances at Fenway Park between the regular season and postseason, Bregman hit .311/.458/.660 with nine home runs and 17 RBI.

The signing isn’t without sacrifice. Because the Astros made Bregman a qualifying offer, the Red Sox will lose their second-highest draft pick and forfeit $500K in international bonus money.

However, the Padres also agreed to a four-year deal with fellow qualified-offer free agent Nick Pivetta earlier in the evening, and will thereby compensate the Red Sox with the No. 77 pick.