Marco Scutaro Battles Back

Like so many of this 2011 Red Sox team, Marco Scutaro‘s April was miserable.  The cry for Jed Lowrie to replace the struggling shortstop was heard throughout Red Sox Nation.  I was very vocal about giving Lowrie a chance.  When Scutaro was put on the DL on May8, Lowrie replaced him in the lineup.  At first Lowrie took advantage of his opportunity.  Lowrie actually carried this team through the month of May.  As the calender flipped to June, however, the more Lowrie came back down to earth.  The more Lowrie’s batting average dropped, the more glaring his weak defense stood out.  On June 7, Scutaro was activated off the DL and since then he hasn’t looked back.

Scutaro has reclaimed his spot as the every day shortstop.  Now it is Jed Lowrie who is on the DL, which probably took some pressure off Scutaro where he could relax and just play.  All Scutaro has done in the month of June is hit .308.  His defense is a huge improvement over Lowrie’s.   Last year Scutaro usually batted leadoff for the injured Jacoby Ellsbury, now he gives the lower half of the lineup a legitimate bat.

What happens when and if Lowrie comes back this year is anyone’s guess.  Any way you look at it, the Sox have had good production out of the shortstop position with Scutaro and Lowrie combining for a .271 avg, 5 home runs and 38 RBI’s.  For now, it is Scutaro’s position to lose,   If he keeps playing like he has then Lowrie is going to have a very hard time finding playing time.

Scutaro appears to be a class act, you never hear of him complaining.  He just comes to the ballpark everyday ready to play.  That’s something to be said for in this day of big salaries and bigger egos.

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