Red Sox Strut: Mookie Betts, Craig Kimbrel earn top honors of the week
The weekly article series where we examine two players who deserve to strut their stuff for the Boston Red Sox. This week – Mookie Betts, Craig Kimbrel.
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.
This past week has done no favors to the Boston Red Sox in the standings, as they dropped four of their last six games.
Pitching has been a problem of late, which seems unusual given the talent that this team has on the pitching staff. Injuries have shortened the rotation depth, forcing them to rely on fringe options like Kyle Kendrick. Naturally the results will be skewed by a spot starter getting lit up, although the bullpen has been battered around lately as well.
That was the case in Sunday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. Starter Drew Pomeranz exited after only three innings with left triceps tightness. The game was still in reach at the time, only for the bullpen to meltdown by allowing nine runs over the final six frames.
While the overall results have been a disappointment, there have been a few silver linings in the form of outstanding performances. Let’s take a look at which players have put themselves in the conversation to Strut this week.
Position Player Candidates
The bats have started to come alive ever since the 17-run explosion in Minnesota. Boston is averaging a respectable 4.5 runs over their last six games, with Sunday’s loss serving as the only instance in which they failed to score at least four runs over that stretch.
Catcher Christian Vazquez continues to swing a surprisingly hot stick, collecting 5 hits in 10 at-bats and drawing a pair of walks. He’s managed to keep his batting average at a robust .364 for the season, but only appeared in three of the team’s six games. Only one of those hits went for extra-bases and he failed to drive in a run.
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Xander Bogaerts went 8-for-24 over the past week and now sits fifth in the league in hitting with a .339 batting average. The star shortstop is still seeking his first home run of the season, although the four doubles he tallied last week could be a sign that his power is coming around.
Veteran second baseman Dustin Pedroia continues to be a steady presence in the lineup, going 7-for-23 with four doubles and three walks last week. Pedroia seems to be revitalized by the move back to his familiar spot in the No. 2 hole, where he’s hitting .325 in 40 at-bats this season. The success he enjoyed in the lead-off spot late last season didn’t carry over to 2017, but he’s back on track since manager John Farrell adjusted the top of the lineup.
Deven Marrero gets a shout out as well for being the savior the Red Sox needed at third base. He’s been inserted into the lineup lately based primarily on his defense. The revolving door that the Red Sox have used at the hot corner has been atrocious in the field, so the sure-handed Marrero would be considered an upgrade regardless of what he did at the plate. Surprisingly, he’s been solid offensively, hitting .273 and collecting the first two doubles of his career.
Position Player who gets to Strut
As solid as those candidates have been, no Red Sox hitter deserves to strut this week more than Mookie Betts.
After a relatively slow start to the season by his lofty standards, Betts is heating up in May. He’s 9-for-24 at the plate, hitting .375 over the last six games.
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Over the past seven days, Betts either leads the league or has a share of the lead in doubles (4), home runs (3), RBI (11), slugging (.917) and OPS (1.399).
Just as the lineup changes have worked out for Pedroia, returning to the top spot of the order seems to be agreeing with Betts. It’s not that he was terrible batting third earlier this season, but he’s been otherworldly since he was moved to the lead-off spot. Betts is hitting .343/.439/.829 with four home runs in 35 at-bats at the top of the lineup.
You would think that batting third would provide him with more RBI opportunities, yet his 12 RBIs from the lead-off spot are only one shy of what he knocked in from the No. 3 spot in nearly triple the amount of at-bats.
Betts was named as the AL Player of the Week, making him the obvious choice to Strut this week.
Pitching Candidates
We can consider Chris Sale essentially every week and this time is no different. The lefty continued his Cy Young campaign in his latest appearance by striking out 12 Rays while earning his fourth win of the season. Sale has now recorded double-digit strikeouts in seven consecutive games, putting him in elite company in major league history.
As impressive as the strikeout totals were, Sale wasn’t quite as sharp as usual. He allowed multiple home runs for the first time this season, surrendering three earned runs overall. Shockingly, both homers came against left-handed hitters, whom Sale has dominated throughout his career. Entering the game he had only allowed a home run to a lefty eight times in his entire career!
Eduardo Rodriguez had a solid outing, holding a lethal Milwaukee Brewers lineup to only one run. While the Red Sox would go on to beat the Brew Crew, E-Rod pitched only six innings and didn’t hang around long enough to be credited with the win.
While the bullpen has had some issues lately, Joe Kelly hasn’t been one of them. The right-hander threw three scoreless innings last week, allowing only two hits and zero walks. It’s also encouraging that he struck out three batters, considering his diminishing strikeout rate has been a major red flag for Kelly this season.
Kelly’s last appearance came on Saturday when he entered the eighth inning in relief of Sale, protecting a three run lead to put the ball in the hands of their closer. This could be a sign that Kelly is starting to gain more of Farrell’s trust and could overtake the struggling Matt Barnes as the primary setup man.
Pitcher who gets to Strut
Craig Kimbrel continues to be among the most dominant relievers in the game. He tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings last week, striking out 7 batters for an insane 22.63 K/9.
He’s even proving that he can thrive in non-traditional closing situations – an Achilles heel for Kimbrel in the past. The closer entered a tie game in the 8th on Thursday and struck out a pair of hitters to end the inning with the winning run on base.
He capped off the outing in the ninth with an immaculate inning, joining Pedro Martinez (2002) and Clay Buchholz (2012) as the only Red Sox pitchers to accomplish that rare feat.
Kimbrel was credited with the win in that game, while also picking up his league-leading 11th save of the season in his next appearance on Saturday. He now owns an incredible 1.08 ERA, 0.48 WHIP and 17.82 K/9 this season.
After posting a career-high ERA in his first season with the Red Sox last year, Kimbrel is quickly silencing the critics who claimed that he was no longer among the most dominant relievers in baseball.
Next: Red Sox prospects on Baseball America's Top 100
His 1.1 WAR is already more value than he produced all of last season and he’s on pace to get back to the level he was at during his peak years with the Atlanta Braves when he was widely considered the best closer in the game.