Red Sox Strut: Week 13 – The new and the damaged

By Rick McNair | Jun 29, 2015

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.

Position Player:

Both Mookie Betts and Brock Holt – two previous strut award winners – had a disappointing Monday through Sunday run. Holt is mired in a slump and posted a .083 average for the week with a horrendous 10 strikeouts. Betts managed a .167 for the week, so on to some other options with more positive results.

Xander Bogaerts has been consistent all season and slashed .320/.320/.440 with three doubles while playing an impressive shortstop. The combination of offense and defense is difficult to beat, but two players certainly made the attempt and one gets the strut.

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Pablo Sandoval is in a groove and that is no surprise. Panda’s hot and cold streaks are legendary and Sandoval is riding the offensive wave of one with a slash of .318/.304/.455 and a home run and three RBI. The free swinging Panda had two strikeouts for the week.

Alejandro De Aza has earned a niche in the outfield with some very capable defense and some surprising hitting. De Aza slashed .353/.389/.941 for a six game OPS of 1.330. Now that’s impressive! De Aza also sent three balls out of the park and bagged six RBI.

De Aza, a left-handed hitter, can strut for the week and continue to build up his free agency resume.

Pitcher:

Clay Buchholz continued to build a case for eventually being an ace with an impressive seven innings in which he allowed one run on eight hits. Buchholz walked one and fanned seven in his 100 pitch effort that resulted in his fifth win of the season.

Junichi Tazawa pitched in three games and that was good for four innings of two hit and no run relief. Manager John Farrell has gone to Tazawa on a regular basis simply because no one has stepped up with the same level of consistency. Another 70+ appearances appear a lock.

Both Tazawa and Buchholz would be worthy strut recipients, but one stands out and that is Justin Masterson.

Assigned to the “What were they thinking?” regarding his performances this season. How bad was it? Masterson had an “injury” that forced a stay on the DL and some rehab starts. Each rehab demonstrated an improvement and with Joe Kelly sent packing Masterson got his chance.

On Sunday Masterson went five impressive innings, allowing just one run on five hits while walking none and striking out six. And this was against the Tampa Ace – one Chris Archer. So a game most Sox fans anticipated being a loss became a win.

Masterson can strut and if he is back to his 2013 form there will be a few more struts.

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