Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley heating up
Boston Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley, Jr. is starting to show that the offensive outburst he showed late last season wasn’t a fluke.
Is it August already? It sure seems like it, given how Jackie Bradley’s scorching success at the plate this week has been reminiscent of his second half surge in 2015.
The 26-year old outfielder entered the season with lingering questions about his offensive potential. His elite defensive skills were enough to earn him the starting center field spot on Opening Day, but would his bat produce enough to warrant an everyday spot in the lineup?
We saw flashes of what Bradley was capable of last August, when he opened some eyes around the league by hitting .354 with a 1.163 OPS for the month. His success wasn’t the result of a few cheap hits here and there either, as 17 of his 28 hits that month went for extra bases, including 5 homers. Yet as hot as he was at the plate during this stretch, it still represented a sample of only about three weeks that seemed to be a clear outlier from the rest of his big league career.
When Bradley cooled off in September to wind down the season, it left many to wonder if that offensive explosion was a sign of things to come or a mirage created by the summer’s heat.
Next: Turning his season around
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There is bound to be a bit less skepticism now that it’s happening again. Bradley got off to a slow start again this season, but he has recovered quickly to resemble the hitter he was last August. A week ago Bradley was in a slump that sent his batting average sinking toward the Mendoza Line, but since then he’s 10 for his last 27 at the plate (.370), raising his season average to a respectable .272 heading into Sunday night’s game.
Bradley has been through this before. People have been ready to count him out, claiming he’d never hit enough to be an everyday player for the Red Sox, but he quieted his critics last summer and he’s doing so again. While there may have been some that were ready to give up on him, manager John Farrell was not among them. The support from his manager helped Bradley build confidence, which has helped get him back on track.
“It’s still early, and I felt like I was putting together some good at-bats.” Bradley recalled thinking to himself during his early season struggles, according to CSNNE.com. “I hit some balls really hard, but they just happened to be right (into) the shift. Normally, balls I hit up the middle are hits but if somebody’s playing there, oh well. You just keep swinging it and hopefully, things start turning around.”
Next: Staying confident
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Things have turned around for Bradley over the past week, as those hard hit balls are finding room to land where defenders can’t get to them. While he’s only hit one out of the park this season, he’s using the gaps to drive the ball with authority. Bradley leads the league with 4 triples this season and his 11 extra-base hits are tied for 10th with a handful of others, including teammates Dustin Pedroia, Mookie Betts and Travis Shaw.
Bradley has always been a streaky hitter that is prone to extended slumps, but in the past he wasn’t always given the opportunity to fight his way through it. In the first half of last season his anemic offensive production got him benched or demoted to the minors. After what the Red Sox saw he was capable of last August, that’s no longer a concern. Bradley now has the confidence that he can hit at the major league level, which has helped him pull out of his early season slump much quicker this time.
“It’s a tough game,” said Bradley. “It will eat you up if you let it. (The key is) just staying confident in myself, knowing that I have what it takes to play here and not straying from that.”
Next: Aggressive approach
Part of his recent success can also be attributed to an aggressive approach he began working on in spring training. Bradley has come to realize that sometimes the best pitch he’s going to see when he steps to the plate is the first one, so he prepares himself to be ready to swing if it’s coming straight down the middle. It’s a plan that worked to perfection in Saturday night’s 8-0 victory over the New York Yankees, when Bradley went 3-for-3 with a pair of triples and a double.
“All three pitches that I hit tonight were right down the middle,” said Bradley after the game. “Normally, if I’m not ready for that pitch, or I’m straight taking, I don’t get the opportunity to swing at those pitches. I want to make sure that I’m in a ready position to put some good swings on balls in the zone.”
By being aggressive early, Bradley avoids falling behind in the count. While the approach can limit the number of walks he can draw, it’s also helping to cut back on his strikeouts. Last season Bradley struck out in 27.8 percent of his plate appearances, but that number has been cut to 24.4 percent so far this season. When Bradley is able to make hard contact, good things tend to happen. He’s still learning to lay off bad pitches, but he’s no longer letting good ones pass him by in hopes that a better one might come along.
Next: Future All-Star?
Bradley’s recent hot streak will eventually cool off, but it serves as proof that last August wasn’t a fluke. He is capable of going on a tear at the plate, which even when balanced with his inevitable slumps still leaves us with a hitter worthy of playing at this level. As he continues to mature and build his confidence, the hot streaks will hopefully become more common than the cold spells.
He’s a defensive wizard in the field, an artist with the glove. His defensive skills alone make him a valuable center fielder, but just imagine what he can become if he starts to hit like this on a more regular basis. We’re talking All-Star upside if he can tap into this potential for prolonged periods, while limiting the ice cold slumps.
His rise can be compared to that of Kansas City Royals outfielder, Lorenzo Cain, who was long considered valuable primarily for his defense, until he broke out with a solid season at the plate in 2014 at the age of 28. He followed that up last season with his first All-Star appearance and finished third in MVP voting. Not that Bradley is expected to enter the MVP conversation anytime soon, but he’s younger than Cain was when he had his breakout season, so perhaps he’s heading for brighter days where it’s not only his glove that gets him recognized.
We’ve seen what Bradley looks like at his best. Now it’s simply a matter of how long he can sustain it.