Red Sox Strut: Spring training edition
The Red Sox Strut is a feature naming the best position player and pitcher of the week. The first one looks at the best performers of spring trainging.
Now, to fully understand what the Red Sox Strut is, it means to have reason to walk with a confident, proud air around you. Some people mistake it for vanity, arrogance, or being pompous. This incorrect assumption is not what we mean. The Strut is about knowing that your deeds showed off your amazing skills to the baseball-loving public.
While we are clearly looking forward to opening day for the Red Sox, BoSox Injection has decided to take one more look back at an interesting spring training with our first Red Sox Strut of the 2016 season. The Strut will be awarded to the best offensive/position player and the best pitcher of the week for Boston, but for this first time only, we’ll take a look at Spring Training as a whole.
POSITION PLAYER: Mookie Betts
Considering how routine spring training is most of the time, the 2016 spring was decently eventful for the Red Sox. It all started with David Ortiz and David Price shaking hands and burying old feuds, Pablo Sandoval showing up out of shape and overweight and a minor scandal involving the manager and a beat reporter.
With all of those things going on off the field, the play on the field was fun to watch some days as well. There were some big performances early on from Marco Hernandez, who finished the spring with a .579 average and seven RBI in 19 at-bats, to the youngster Sam Travis, who hit .469 with 13 RBI in 32 at-bats. We also were treated to the debut of Andrew Benintendi. He showed some ability at the plate in limited appearances.
David Ortiz has had a slow start in his final spring, and Dustin Pedroia has been solid. It was a solid spring for Xander Bogaerts as well (.286, 6 RBI, 2 HR) as he looks to build on the foundation that was set last season in his quest to be an upcoming star for the Sox.
Hanley Ramirez has shocked the masses thus far in the Hanley-goes-to-first experiment by making some solid plays in the field and showing some promise that he’ll improve on a failed first season in Boston. Jackie Bradley also had a nice spring for himself hitting .377 with three homeruns and eight RBI.
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Pablo Sandoval has struggled hitting just .204 in 49 at-bats with zero clutch hitting and bad fielding all leading to his benching for the start of the season. Conversely, Travis Shaw has capitalized on the situation by displaying his incredible work ethic at third and displaying a swing at the plate that teammates are now comparing to Adrian Gonzalez. With a .338 batting average, .394 OBP, .492 slugging percentage, 11 RBI and 2 HR, and his being named the opening day starter, one could certainly argue that Shaw should be strutting his way into the regular season.
Still, there was one player who surpassed Shaw with his consistent play during spring training. This is a guy who I expect to be strutting quite a bit this season as he turns into quite possibly the best player on the team. This is of course Mookie Betts. In 68 at-bats, Betts hit .353 (.353/.632/.985) with six RBI and four homeruns. Mookie continued right where he left off in 2015 with his smooth hustle in the field, electrifying speed and timely hitting. It will be a pleasure to witness him blossom this season, and Mookie can strut his way into Cleveland on opening day.
PITCHER: Joe Kelly
It can be difficult to get a read on pitchers sometimes during spring training. With managers limiting innings, pitchers getting put in games in situations that aren’t necessarily common for them during the regular season and some experimenting with new pitches or approaches, you never know if you’re truly seeing their best. Still, evaluations can certainly be made.
David Price looked very solid. The newly acquired ace of the staff didn’t get a ton of actual game innings for obvious reasons, but had an ERA of 2.81 in 16.0 innings. He also added 15 strikeouts.
Unfortunately, Eduardo Rodriguez injured his knee shagging balls in the outfield early on in spring training and all reports indicate that he won’t be ready until the middle of May. Clay Buchholz seemed to be trying out some things and working on particular pitches, but he struggled with men on base and seemed to labor through innings at times. Rick Porcello finished the spring with an ERA of 9.77 – enough said. Henry Owens had an up and down spring allowing Steven Wright (1-2, 2.77 ERA, 26.0 IP) to slide into the rotation to fill in for the injured Rodriguez.
As for the bullpen guys, Koji Uehara has looked shaky at times although he has admitted that he has been working on some things, even neglecting to throw his killer splitter at all in some outings. Still, a 12.27 ERA is a scary number to think about for Koji. Junichi Tazawa has been average, while Matt Barnes and the hard-throwing new closer Craig Kimbrel have looked great.
We’ve witness a ton of arms get some mound time this spring, but the pitcher who gets to strut his stuff coming out of spring training is Joe Kelly. Kelly had a phenomenal end to 2015 and continued his run so far this season. He led the team in strikeouts with 22 and ERA for starting pitchers at 2.63. He also had a record of 3-1 and showed why he is looking to be a very valuable member of this staff in 2016. While he prepares for his first regular season start of the year this week, he can strut all night long!