Red Sox entertaining the idea of batting Andrew Benintendi third
Andrew Benintendi, the top prospect in baseball and consensus favorite to win the Rookie of the Year Award, could play a larger role in the Boston Red Sox lineup than initially thought.
Prior to Spring Training, Red Sox manager John Farrell teased the idea that Benintendi would bat second in the lineup. Certainly a lot of responsibility for a player with just 118 career plate appearances, but if anyone could handle that duty at such a premature stage in their career, it would be him.
Through 23 plate appearances this spring, he might have shown that he’s ready for a greater challenge. Batting .409 with a 1.298 OPS, two home runs, and 6 RBI, he is demonstrating once again that he’s more than capable of handling major league pitching. According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, his early success has the Red Sox reconsidering the role he plays in the lineup.
Red Sox sources have told Rosenthal that they’re considering moving Benintendi to the third spot in the lineup, breaking up the stretch of right-handed hitters that occupy the middle of the order. Given what we’ve seen this spring, a Sox lineup with him in the three hole would look like this against righties:
- Dustin Pedroia 2B
- Xander Bogaerts SS
- Andrew Benintendi LF
- Mookie Betts RF
- Hanley Ramirez DH
- Mitch Moreland 1B
- Jackie Bradley CF
- Pablo Sandoval 3B
- Sandy Leon C
It’s unknown whether Farrell would move Benintendi against left-handed pitching. He hit just .179 against southpaws in 33 plate appearances last season and has continued those struggles this spring, going just 1-5 with lefties on the mound.
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With the use of relievers at an all-time high and the importance placed on finding favorable matchups, batting Benintendi third provides the Red Sox with a well-balanced lineup throughout. If he were to remain in the two-hole as originally expected, the Red Sox would have at least three right-handed batters occupying the middle of the order – Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, and Hanley Ramirez. This move – if the Sox follow through with it – would give them no more than two successive right-handed bats at the top and in the middle of the lineup.
One downside is that Mookie Betts wouldn’t be guaranteed first-inning at-bats. It’s hard to gauge how much of an impact this would have on their overall success (David Ortiz batted fourth in 95 games last season) but is definitely something that Farrell should consider. On average, the number four hitter receives 16 fewer plate appearances than the number three hitter in the American League.
There is still a lot of baseball to be played between today and the Red Sox season opener on April 3rd, meaning that anything is subject to change. Forecasting a Sox lineup that features Benintendi in the three-hole is pure speculation until we get concrete evidence that the club does intend to move in that direction. However, Farrell is clearly impressed with the 22-year-old’s ability to handle baseball’s biggest stage.
"“A lot of times, a player is going to tell you what he’s ready for or capable of and how you would think he would handle adversity by not being fragile mentally,” Farrell said. “If we didn’t feel that way about Andrew, I don’t know that he’d be in the big leagues last year.”"
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Regardless of the order, we can be confident that the Red Sox will field a potent lineup as they aspire for the American League East title.