Red Sox Strut: Outfielder Mookie Betts, RHP Hector Velazquez

The weekly article series where we examine two players who deserve to strut their stuff for the Boston Red Sox. This week – Mookie Betts, Hector Velazquez.

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.

The Boston Red Sox have won seven of their last ten games to jump into a virtual tie at the top of the AL East with a free-falling New York Yankees team that has dropped six straight.

Sure, beating up on the lowly Philadelphia Phillies at Fenway Park helped put them in this position. However, the roll Boston is on isn’t merely about taking advantage of a cupcake schedule. The Red Sox made a statement in Houston over the weekend, taking two out of three from an Astros team with the best record in baseball.

The entire team has reason to Strut after winning a potential playoff preview on the road. Which players led the way to earn the honor this week?

Position Player Candidates

The Red Sox were able to take three out of four against the Phillies last week, but it wasn’t quite as easy as you’d expect against a last place team. The first two games of the series each ended with thrilling walk-off hits in extra-innings.

The first belonged to Dustin Pedroia, who singled through the hole on the right side of the infield in the 11th inning. Deven Marrero dove head first into home plate, narrowly avoiding the tag. Pedroia was not so lucky in avoiding the mob of teammates that rushed after him to celebrate the victory.

The next night was Andrew Benintendi‘s turn. The rookie came through with a base hit in the 12th for Boston’s second walk-off victory in as many nights. Officially he was only credited with a single, despite that the ball bounced into the stands for what would have been a ground-rule double had the game not ended once the runner from second crossed the plate.

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In order to be given the opportunity to win the game in extra-innings, Boston had to get there first. They can credit Benintendi for helping there as well. Not only did his bases loaded walk put them on the board in the first inning, he also nailed Howie Kendrick with a perfect throw to the plate in the eighth.

Benintendi strung together consecutive three-hit performances to open the week, finishing 8-for-25 (.320) with a home run and five RBI. He also drew a team-high four walks.

It was a bit of a backwards week for Xander Bogaerts. His batting average is sliding after going 8-for-30 last week and he’s hitting only .268 in June. On the other hand, he led Boston’s offense in Sunday night’s win in Houston by bashing a pair of home runs, doubling his season total. Bogaerts drove in four of the team’s six runs that night and tallied a team-high seven RBI for the week.

Jackie Bradley continues his strong month of June, going 8-for-26 at the plate last week with three doubles and triple. He’s now hitting .317/.397/.533 this month.

Position Player who gets to Strut

While it may not be as thrilling as walking off with a win in extra-innings, Mookie Betts does get credit for a game-winning home run in the eighth inning against the Astros. When you have Craig Kimbrel warming in the bullpen, that’s as good as a walk-off. Once the ball cleared the fence off the bat of Betts, it was essentially game over.

Betts also had a two-homer game against the Phillies last week. That came as part of a four-hit performance where he was a triple short of the cycle. It was also the sixth time in his career that Betts has had a multi-home run game as the leadoff hitter, setting a new franchise record.

Name an offensive category and Betts was probably at or near the top of the list among Red Sox hitters last week. He went 12-for-31 (.387) to lead the team in hits and average. He also had the most doubles with four to go along with those team-high three homers. Only Bogaerts drove in more runs than the five that Betts delivered. He also swiped his 11th base of the season, putting him into the top-10 in the league in steals.

Some may look at the common stats such as batting average, home runs and RBI and suspect Betts has declined from last year when he was the runner-up for the MVP. He hasn’t. His 3.5 WAR is second in the American league and third in the majors. His sensational defense in right field helps boost his value. Now that his power is starting to come around, it won’t be long until his offensive numbers are back in line with the territory he ascended to last year.

Pitcher who gets to Strut

The last thing that the Red Sox needed coming off of consecutive extra-innings affairs was for their starter to be knocked out of the game early. They called up Hector Velazquez for bullpen depth just in case – a move that ended up saving the series.

Brian Johnson got the nod that day, only to exit early with an arm injury after being tagged for three runs in the third inning. An overworked bullpen needed someone to pick them up and that’s exactly what Velazquez did.

A six-run shellacking in Oakland last month sent Velazquez packing back to Triple-A. Now he was being called upon for extended relief in a game where the rest of the bullpen needed a break.

All Velazquez managed to do was hold the Phillies scoreless over 3 1/3 innings to halt their comeback attempt, stealing a win from an injured starter who didn’t last long enough to earn it. Velazquez allowed only one hit and one walk, while striking out two.

Philadelphia managed to avoid a sweep with a win on Thursday but imagine how this series would be viewed if Velazquez couldn’t stop the bleeding. If he comes in and blows the lead, Boston ends up splitting a four game series against a last place Phillies team.

Next: Red Sox surprise bag

With Johnson landing on the disabled list following that game, Velazquez will take his spot in the rotation on Monday when the Red Sox head to Kansas City. It’s possible that his last appearance was a fluke and this start will be much closer to the ugly outing in Oakland. As well as he pitched in Philadelphia, he’s earned the chance to find out.