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Red Sox: Top-10 reasons to get excited about baseball in 2018

By Cole Witaszek

BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 09: Andrew Benintendi #16 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates with Mookie Betts #50 after hitting a two-run home run in the fifth inning against the Houston Astros during game four of the American League Division Series at Fenway Park on October 9, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 09: Andrew Benintendi #16 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates with Mookie Betts #50 after hitting a two-run home run in the fifth inning against the Houston Astros during game four of the American League Division Series at Fenway Park on October 9, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 06: J.D. Martinez #28 of the Arizona Diamondbacks celebrates after hitting a solo home run in the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game one of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium on October 6, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 06: J.D. Martinez #28 of the Arizona Diamondbacks celebrates after hitting a solo home run in the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game one of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium on October 6, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

The Red Sox finished last in the American League in home runs last season. They won 93 games despite this, but an underwhelming offense clearly seemed to hold back an otherwise strong team from performing like a juggernaut.

The Red Sox entered this off-season with a big bat on the top of their to-do list. The obvious option was always J.D. Martinez and Dave Dombrowski isn’t one to scoff at the obvious solution. It took longer than we all thought it would, but by the time February came to a close, Martinez entered a press conference donning a Red Sox cap.

The 30-year-old slugger had quite a year this past season. In 2017, Martinez slashed .303/.376/.690 while launching 45 home runs in just 119 games, including 29 after the July 31 trade deadline.

With the Green Monster looming only 310 feet from home plate, the pull-happy righty looks poised to put up some massive power numbers in the middle of the Red Sox lineup. Boston’s offense would almost certainly have improved this year just based on regression to the mean and young players continuing to develop; add in one of the best hitters in all of baseball and you have a team that could be very scary in 2018. The closest thing to David Ortiz‘s replacement we are going to get has arrived and we should all be amped up to see what he can do.

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