The Boston Red Sox have serious concerns about Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez entering this season, but they both look good in camp so far.
It’s fair to say that Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez didn’t live up to expectations in their first season with the Boston Red Sox. The pair of prized free agent signings from last winter were given salaries that made them the highest paid hitters on the team, only for each of them to provide below replacement level value.
Despite Red Sox chairman Tom Werner’s claims that it’s too early to judge either of these veterans, there are a lot of fans that are unwilling to give them the benefit of the doubt. They have already been labeled as busts with albatross contracts that have us counting down the days until they expire.
Have we been too harsh on these former All-Star talents? We are still only in the early stages of spring training, but already we’re seeing signs of improvement.
One of the issues that plagued Sandoval last year was an inability to hit left-handed pitching. He started out a pitiful 2-for-41 batting from the right side of the plate before abandoning his switch-hitting approach, finishing the season with a .197 average against lefties. Now he’s determined to return to being a switch-hitter this season and is already showing results.
Here he steps into the box against David Price, one of the top left-handed pitchers in the game. So what does he do on the first pitch he sees? Crushes it for a home run of course.
First pitch from Price: Pablo RH homer pic.twitter.com/1pH60iisZj
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) February 25, 2016
Pablo’s right-handed swing is back! Clearly we no longer need to be concerned about Sandoval, unless of course it’s regarding his weight. We need to harp on that topic more.
As for Ramirez, his biggest issue will be learning a new position for the second straight year. Red Sox fans are terrified that the results will be as disastrous as last season’s adventures in the outfield, but fear not Fenway Faithful. Ramirez is hard at work down in Fort Myers fielding his new position and is already looking comfortable covering the bag.
Hanley Ramirez playing 1B. pic.twitter.com/ip2zVdJTm3
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) February 25, 2016
Look at that, he didn’t drop a single ball thrown to him! That’s a Gold Glove winner in the making right there.
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It’s also noteworthy that Ramirez didn’t appear to injure himself in that video. We know what a healthy Ramirez is capable of at the plate, so as long as he can avoid crashing into walls then we may see the return of the superstar hitter he once was. You know, all the way back in April of last year.
Is it too early to state that these guys are back to being great or can we pencil them into the All-Star Game now?
Granted it’s a limited sample that we’ve seen in camp so far, but what we’ve seen is quite promising. It’s enough to convince us all that better days are ahead for these two and for the Red Sox.
Next: 5 Spring Training questions
Either that or we’ll be back to hammering their every mistake by this time next week. Enjoy the optimism while it lasts.