Besides, who says that a power surge isn’t coming for the 23-year old?
"“Conventional wisdom says power is the last thing to come for a player at the major league level,” Farrell told reporters, per ESPN’s Scott Lauber. “Whether or not that plays out for Xander, we’ll see. He has those capabilities.”"
When Bogaerts was coming up through the farm system as the top prospect in the organization a few years ago he was projected to have above-average power for his position. He hasn’t shown it yet, but that’s partially by design. He has preferred to follow the model of childhood idol Derek Jeter by hitting the ball to all fields, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of muscling up to drive one over the fences. If you have ever watched Bogaerts take batting practice you know that he has the strength to do it and his power will only develop further as he grows into his prime.
The Red Sox aren’t necessarily asking him to change his approach, but they would like to see him drive the ball more when he’s ahead in the count. Bogaerts is aware of this and suggested that he may adjust his approach in fastball counts, which could lead to more power production.
"“Maybe this year, it depends on the count — 3-1, 2-1, if the opportunity presents itself — I might try to go for one,” said Bogaerts. “But I definitely wasn’t thinking of hitting them out [last year]. We have David. We have Hanley [Ramirez]. We have Pablo [Sandoval]. We have those guys who can do that.”"
Well, perhaps we shouldn’t be counting on Sandoval to contribute much in the power department (or much at all, for that matter). Plus it won’t be long before the Red Sox need to add more pop to their lineup to make up for the loss of Ortiz.
With Ortiz set to retire at the end of this upcoming season he’ll be looking to pass the torch to the next generation that will lead this lineup. Bogaerts may never have the 40-50+ homer power that Ortiz had in his prime, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be an effective cleanup hitter.
Next: Spring experiment or here to stay?