The weekly article series where we examine the two players who deserve to strut their stuff for the Boston Red Sox. This is the spring training edition.
If you want 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.
It’s that time of year again! Spring training is nearing its end and Opening Day is right around the corner. That means that it’s time to see which Red Sox players have earned the right to strut their stuff around the clubhouse.
Other than the elbow injury that has sidelined the polarizing David Price, it’s been a relatively quiet spring for Boston. But after last year’s success coming to a crashing halt against the mighty Cleveland Indians in the playoffs, and the addition of ace pitcher Chris Sale, the pressure is already mounting for this squad. The fans expect big things this season.
Let’s take a look at who has performed to the best of their ability early on.
POSITIONAL PLAYER: Pablo Sandoval
It can be difficult to get a great read on some of the players in spring training because their playing time can be minimal at times as managers look to ramp up as opening day approaches, especially when it comes to veteran guys. But that’s not really what spring training is about. It’s about young prospects, role players and even fringe guys getting an opportunity to prove they belong in the big leagues. Sure, the vets need the time to get back into the swing of things too, but that’s not what fans are interested in.
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Most of the Red Sox guaranteed everyday players have been just fine thus far. Mookie Betts is hitting .311 in 45 at-bats with 6 RBI, Dustin Pedroia is hitting a whopping .419 in just 31 at-bats and even Hanley Ramirez with bad shoulder and all is hitting .300 in 50 at-bats with 3 home runs and 13 RBI. These are the guys that aren’t really under a microscope at the moment though.
One guy that is leaping up into veteran status that will be interesting to keep an eye on early on this season is Xander Bogaerts. Due to the WBC, he has had limited time with the team and many less at-bats than his teammates. He’s heading into a year in which people will be expecting him to take a big step toward being the superstar he’s expected to be.
As far as strutting is concerned, it’s difficult to not take a look at the stat lines and simply award it to second baseman Marco Hernandez. In 52 at-bats, Hernandez is really seeing the ball well. He’s hitting .385/.448/.692/1.141 with 6 RBI. He’s not really hitting for a ton of power at the present time and we all know that Pedroia is not going anywhere for a few years. Hernandez is a guy that has been making progress for a couple seasons now though.
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- Red Sox ‘in the mix’ for longtime Dodgers slugger Justin Turner
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- 3 players the Red Sox could’ve DFA’ed instead of Jeter Downs and Eric Hosmer
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Meanwhile, two other younger guys have certainly thrown their names in the ring for contention to strut. Big things are on the horizon for Andrew Benintendi. He’s considered the Sox top prospect and arguably the top prospect in all of baseball. He’s having a great start to 2017 hitting .315 in 54 at-bats with 10 RBI and 3 homeruns. The other player is Sam Travis who has been on a tear as of late. He’s hitting .318 and slugging .591 with 12 RBI and 3 homeruns in 43 at-bats. Although Boston looks like they have first base covered right now, I expect to see Travis with the big club in 2017 especially with Hanley already having injury problems.
But the Spring Training Strut is instead going to be awarded to one of the more unlikely candidates on the team. It’s going to the man who missed all of 2016 and came back to Fort Myers this year in better shape. That’s right…it’s time for the Panda strut because Pablo Sandoval has had the best spring training with all things considered. The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier recently wrote a piece on how things seem to be on the upward swing for Sandoval.
We’ve seen him hit for power, we’ve seen him attempt to bunt and we’ve seen him play better than average defense in the field. Perhaps it’s because the bar was set so low, but nonetheless Sandoval has really performed well this spring. He’s hitting .370/.382/.704 with 4 home runs and 19 RBI in 51 at-bats. He’s saying all the right things and appears to be ready to take back his spot on this team. Let’s hope it’s for real and we’ll be seeing him strut in the months of May, June and July as well, but for now, the Panda is strutting to opening day.
PITCHER: Kyle Kendrick
Opportunities for the big named pitcher are also few and far between for the bigger named arms in spring training. It’s pretty obvious that no one wants to overwork an arm too early in the spring, especially in this day and age with Tommy John surgery lurking around every corner. There’s a science involved in getting guys ready and loose for the regular season.
That being said, it’s still been interesting to get to see the newly acquired Chris Sale perform in the limited amount of inning we’ve seen so far. He hasn’t exactly been lights out, and he is very aware. Sale has 3.38 ERA in 16 innings pitched and 20 strikeouts. We all expect that he’ll be in top form come April.
The biggest story for Sox pitching has no doubt been the status of David Price. There was a good deal of drama surrounding his elbow a couple weeks ago, especially when we heard about the dreaded Dr. James Andrews visit. But all appears to be somewhat OK for now. Price will rest up and hopefully start pitching again in May – fingers crossed.
The best overall pitching performance for Boston has come from an unlikely candidate, but I feel that most fans would agree on. Long-time Phillies pitcher Kyle Kendrick, who signed a one year/one million dollar minor league deal, has absolutely made the most out of this opportunity. The veteran has made as big of an impact as possible in the constraints of spring training.
Kendrick has a 2.17 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in 29.0 total innings – by far the most on the team. He’s tied (with Sale) for the team lead in strikeouts with 26. And beyond the stats, he’s really pitched with poise and has made it look easy at times.
The Boston Herald’s Michael Silverman quoted Kendrick recently on if he thinks he’s done enough this spring to make a case for making the team:
"“Feel like it. It’s out of my control. All I can do is go out there and pitch and see what happens. I feel great with where I’m at right now and keep it rolling.”"
Next: Spring training cuts highlighted by Swihart
You have to think that it is only a matter of time before we are seeing Kendrick pitching at Fenway. They will be without Price for at least a month or so and there are still questions about other Sox pitchers like Steven Wright. These are types of stories that are great to follow in spring training. Kendrick really came from out of nowhere and now will likely play a large role in cementing this rotation at the beginning of the season.