Red Sox Strut: Sandy Leon and David Price win the honors

The weekly article series where we examine the two players who deserve to strut their stuff for the Boston Red Sox. This week – Sandy Leon and David Price.

Now to fully understand what the Red Sox Strut is, it means to have reason to walk with a confident, proud air around you. Some people mistake it for vanity, arrogance, or being pompous. This incorrect assumption is not what we mean. The Strut is about knowing that your deeds showed off your amazing skills to the baseball-loving public.

The Red Sox are currently on quite the roll. They’ve won nine of their last eleven games and five of seven games since the last Strut. Of course, the two games that resulted in losses still led to a ton of second guessing of manager John Farrell (as Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald can tell you), but the team has looked solid overall. Better pitching and timely hitting have combined to keep them in the hunt for a playoff spot even during a challenging road trip.

Still, there were only a couple candidates to earn the Strut in the pitching department while there were quite a few good performers on the offensive side.

POSITIONAL PLAYER: Sandy Leon

When Christian Vazquez was sent back down to Pawtucket and left-fielder at the time Blake Swihart headed to the DL, the state of Boston’s catching position was seriously in question. Enter the savior – Sandy Leon. Leon has saved John Farrell and company from having a real issue on their hands.

Leon has a presence behind the plate, works well with the pitching staff and has been on absolute fire at the plate for about a month now. He is currently hitting .383 with an OBP of .436 and slugging .638. He also has seven homeruns and 26 RBI – pretty solid considering that he joined the team at the beginning of June when he was promoted from Pawtucket.

The 27 year old Venezuelan has been an incredible addition to the lineup that no one could have seen coming. According to Boston.com’s Paul Swyden, “Leon now has 15 more hits this season than he did in his previous four major league seasons.” This week is a perfect time to recognize Leon’s contributions to the Red Sox.

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While a handful of Sox players had some huge games, including Mookie Betts (he pretty much single-handedly won the first game of the Orioles series with two huge home runs), Dustin Pedroia, Jackie Bradley Jr and David Ortiz, Leon will have the honors to Strut this week. Leon has given the team a great option at catcher and someone who can fill in at the DH spot if Big Papi needs a day off.

Leon went 8-for-23 this week for an average of .347. He also knocked in five runs with four runs scored, two big home runs and a double. He doesn’t seem to be baffled by any pitchers at the moment and has really made the lineup much more potent. NESN has even recently made the argument that Leon may be the team’s MVP! I’m not sure where Boston would be if Leon didn’t immediately heat up once he was brought to the big club. And for that reason, it’s time to realize his contributions thus far and let the man Strut!

PITCHER: David Price

Aug 22, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher David Price (24) smiles in the dugout at the end of the eighth inning at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /

Despite the Sox winning five of the seven games this week, there were really only two possible options for the Strut honors in the pitching department. Eduardo Rodriguez pitched well for four innings, but was then removed from the game against the Orioles due to hamstring tightness. He was scratched from his next turn in the rotation on Sunday. His replacement, Henry Owens, didn’t exactly pick up the slack (5.0 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 5 BB, 6 SO, 2 HR) and his ERA is now 7.79 in Boston in 2016.

Drew Pomeranz has greatly improved since his first few games in a Sox uniform, but he’s still not dominant or Strut-worthy in my opinion. It’s been nice to see him get more comfortable and pitch like a guy that was worthy of the trade with the Padres, but he still has trouble going deep into games.

Clay Buchholz is…well, he’s Clay Buchholz. You can never be sure of what you’re going to get but anything even remotely positive is worth it.

The bullpen has been OK, but is still struggling to be consistent. Currently, Red Sox fans don’t have much confidence in many relievers on the staff, including Craig Kimbrel and Brad Ziegler. And just forget about Junichi Tazawa already! Matt Barnes may be the most reliable out of any of them at the moment, although he faltered on Monday night in Tampa.

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Besides knuckleballer Steven Wright, the highlight of the season in the pitching department has been the reemergence of Rick Porcello, who has become a go-to stopper in the rotation. When they need a quality start, Porcello has delivered. He did that again this week against his old team in Detroit going 7.0 innings and allowing just two runs on four hits and two walks. He also added eight strikeouts and brought his ERA down to 3.22.

But Price was even better this week. Price is quietly turning his season around and slowly showing that he is indeed the ace that Boston so desperately needs. He had two starts this week and didn’t let us down. In the first, against divisional foe Baltimore, Price went six innings and only gave up one run and no walks with four hits. He had four strikeouts. In his next start in Tampa against the Rays, Price was even better. He went eight strong, shutout innings giving up just two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts.

Next: Boston Red Sox: Time to let go of Junichi Tazawa

Price hasn’t had an easy season for the Red Sox after signing a monster contact in the offseason. He has struggled at times, but has never stopped trying to be the ace of the staff. He understands what is needed from him and is doing his best to make the most out of year one in Boston despite the intense scrutiny. This is the David Price that the Red Sox will need going forward in order to succeed. But for now, let’s recognize his achievement and allow the man to Strut!

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