1. Mookie Betts
This young bowling champion burst onto Red Sox fans’ radar with his spectacular 2014 season posting a .994 OPS at AA Portland as a second baseman, then as a center fielder since he is blocked at second base, earning a promotion to AAA Pawtucket where he continued to rake. His .920 OPS there prompted the Red Sox to call him up to the majors, where he continued to hit. His .820 OPS for the season didn’t tell the whole story. His OPS rose each month he was in the majors in 2014 to an .849 clip in September (.760 is about league average).
2015 was another difficult year for the Red Sox but another coming out party for Betts, who started to find his power stroke, pounding 18 homers on the season, including five in the month of September. For a player only five foot nine inches, he hits the ball very hard and very deep to left field, a great quality for someone playing at Fenway Park with the Green Monster only 310 feet away (or less if you believe some of the players).
Probably the most exciting statistic for Betts in 2015 was that his OPS rose to .998 for the month of September. Stats for the end of the season should be taken with a grain of salt since many teams (including the Red Sox last year, unfortunately) are just playing out the string and will take a look at young pitchers perhaps not ready for the majors. On the flip side, there are teams vying for the playoffs and aren’t just giving runs up in droves, so the success in September is encouraging also for the fact that the 23-year old Betts had plenty in the tank at the end of the season.
The hot streak of Bradley in August led the Red Sox to re-think their outfield alignment given Bradley Jr.’s elite defensive skills as a center fielder, so Betts seems ticketed for right field for next season. While it is certainly a challenge to learn a new position at the major league level, by all accounts Betts is perpetually asking questions of the veterans, showing he is a quick learner and avid to learn the intricacies of the right field position as well as the major league game in general.
Next: 2. Jose Bautista