Red Sox Brock Holt Will Be The Bolt In Left Field

The Boston Red Sox made the move to put former utility man Brock Holt into the starting position in left field, instead of Rusney Castillo. Will it pay off?

Yes, you read that right! Mr. Holt, who made his first All-Star appearance last season as a utility player and is signed through 2016 for $606 thousand, has jumped ahead of Mr. Castillo, who is signed through 2020 for $72.5 million, to play as a starter.

Jason Mastrodonato of The Boston Herald stated that Holt “will get the majority of the playing time in left field against right-handed pitchers, thus making him the likely starter in left field on Opening Day. Chris Young will play against every left-hander, [Red Sox manager John] Farrell said earlier this spring. That means Rusney Castillo is the odd man out and could be used as a reserve outfielder at this point.” Mastrodonato also added that Holt will still be used to give middle infielders like Xander Bogaerts and Dustin Pedroia a break, but “because Holt is the only backup middle infielder on the roster, Travis Shaw could get some reps at second base to protect the Sox in emergency situations.”

If you look at the Red Sox depth chart, the change has been officially made. Where it once read that Castillo was in the top slot in left field, with Holt’s name buried under even Young’s, now Holt has bolted to the top of the list. In fact, Holt’s name appears in seven of the lists, only missing from the catcher, pitcher, and designated hitter roles. And, his smile is lighting up that left corner, brightly.

With that smile comes possible frustration and uncertainty.

Understandably, some of that must be coming from the inner workings of Castillo, himself. The 28-year-old Cuban outfielder went from being touted as an impact player, waiting to be crowned the Red Sox starting center fielder a year ago, to being slammed in the media within the last few hours for being surpassed by a bench player. Granted, Holt is not just your average bench player; however, the sting must burn quite a bit for Castillo, at the moment.

In 10 games in 2014, Castillo was projecting the potential that his skilled once promised, hitting a slash line of .333/.400/.528 with two home runs and six RBIs. He made great plays in the outfield, showing a glove with some speed. Yet, two things held Castillo back in 2015: right shoulder inflammation and a man by the name of Mookie Betts, who had an incredible first full year and became the Red Sox center fielder. Even Betts wasn’t safe, defensively, even though he made a ton of great plays in center field, as Jackie Bradley Jr.’s stock also rose and moved Betts to right field. The thought was that Bradley Jr., Betts, and Castillo would be the three men making up the core players in Boston’s outfield.

Apparently, that was to be short-lived.

Castillo’s turbulent 2015, hitting .253 with five homers and 29 RBIs in 80 games, combined with his .227 batting average in 16 games this spring didn’t help his cause to prove to the Red Sox that his troubles were behind him. Compared to Holt’s numbers, the decision was pretty clear. Holt hit .280 with two homers and 45 RBIs in 129 games, often coming in cold off of the bench, and he continued to be consistent this spring, hitting .286 in 17 games.

Both players are under some contractual control by Boston; however, while Castillo’s financial future is pretty set until 2020, Holt’s arbitration year should prove to be a big one, with him due to make a big chunk of change more in 2017 than he is currently making.

Holt was the only bolt of Red Sox energy that was surging through the 2015 All-Star game, and he was only a bench player. One could argue that Holt would have been a starter on a host of other ball clubs, as long as their name wasn’t the Boston Red Sox. Now, even if only part-time, Holt has the promise that the job in left field will be his for the majority of the season. If anything, Castillo’s phenom status will only be restored after proving that he is better than Young, the backup to Holt and the other outfielders. A tough job at this point, to say the least.

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Until Castillo can use his power more consistently at the plate, expect Holt to continue to bring the fire deep inside him on every play that he can make. Finally, Holt is getting his chance to prove to the entire baseball world that he is more than just a helpful utility player. You’d be crazy to think that he would take his foot off of the gas, especially a year from a re-evaluation of his annual income. Holt has everything to play for. So does Castillo, but now he has less opportunities to prove himself, at least against MLB pitchers.

Let’s see if Holt is worth the price of admission for the long haul. So far, people seem to think that he is worth it compared to his million-dollar-making counterpart.