There are rumblings that the Red Sox may start Brock Holt in LF to start 2016. That may not be the best approach for the development of Rusney Castillo.
Over the course of the last two seasons, bright spots have been few and far between for this Red Sox squad. One of the highlights has clearly been the emergence of the super-utility player, Brock Holt, who has even been deemed the “Brock Star” by Red Sox Nation – they don’t just hand out nicknames to anyone.
Holt’s ability to literally play any position on the field, minus pitcher or catcher, on any given day has proven to be an extremely valuable asset to John Farrell. His effort, toughness and desire to do whatever it takes to get playing time has undoubtedly made him a fan favorite and a big part of Boston’s plans again in 2016.
His name was floated in some trade rumors over the course of the offseason, but Dave Dombrowski and company never seemed to truly buy into selling on Brock. The Red Sox had too many question marks coming into a season in which they need to have success to send away a talented guy just because he doesn’t have an everyday spot to play. Most fans probably thought if a spot were to open up, it would come at one of the corners being that public enemy number one and number two (Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez) are currently occupying those positions. Now, according to Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Globe, that may not actually be the case.
There are now signs pointing to Holt getting time in left field, even a possibility Holt could be the LF starter at the beginning of the year. “There is a chance for him to get a good number of at-bats out in left field, yes,” Mastrodonato quoted John Farrell on the subject. “How those at-bats in left field are divided up in left field, that remains to be seen. I’m not going to say it’s a strict platoon, but there are going to be multiple guys getting at-bats out of that position.”
I have no issues with finding creative ways to get Holt on the field, and I understand that Travis Shaw will have the opportunity to be the next in line for one of the corner spots which makes Brock’s help in the infield not as necessary, but I think the Red Sox need to be very careful with this left field idea.
More from BoSox Injection
- Red Sox should capitalize on Yankees’ latest roster move
- Red Sox ownership’s latest reported venture could be what’s affected team spending
- How Red Sox’ latest cheap endeavor could carve out a role in 2023
- Conflicting report about Mookie Betts trade paints Chaim Bloom in even worse light
- Boston Red Sox setting Trevor Story up for failure amidst Xander Bogaert departure
The pressure has been on Rusney Castillo from day one due to the way he was introduced, his age and the amount of money the Sox forked over for the rights to sign him. While Rusney has shown he is very raw in the outfield and hasn’t exactly torn the cover off the ball at the plate, it is way too early to give up on him. We still don’t know, one way or the other, what Rusney is and if he can find a way to make an impact.
Castillo has shown signs of great athleticism and is still acclimating, not only to Boston, but to the MLB style of baseball and to a whole new culture. If the Sox were to make the switch right now, they may “lose” Castillo for good. I’m not saying that Farrell needs to stick with Castillo no matter what, just that he needs to get a fair shot in order for Boston to truly know what they have in him. Plus, as Tim Britton pointed out, with the signing of Chris Young, playing time may already be tough to come by for Castillo.
Holt’s versatility is very useful, but over the course of the last couple seasons, he has been slightly exposed when he starts to play every day. Take a look at the numbers from the second half of last year and it becomes apparent that Holt’s numbers began to plummet as he came back down to Earth. If Boston pulls the trigger on the decision to give the primary responsibilities of LF to Holt, and they realize it’s not working out, then it may already be too late to try to go back to Castillo.
Next: Red Sox catchers need to catch a break
There have been rumors that the Red Sox may be looking to make a trade, possibly with the Indians according to ESPN, which could send a current outfielder to Cleveland. If Rusney is the guy on the way out of town to alleviate the logjam in the Sox outfield, then that may explain the Holt experiment in LF. This is definitely something to keep an eye on as we near the start of the season.