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Red Sox: Three up, three down from the month of June

By Josh Greenberg

BOSTON, MA - JUNE 22: Brock Holt #12 of the Boston Red Sox throws ice water over J.D. Martinez #28 of the Boston Red Sox after beating the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park on June 22, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - JUNE 22: Brock Holt #12 of the Boston Red Sox throws ice water over J.D. Martinez #28 of the Boston Red Sox after beating the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park on June 22, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – APRIL 26: Brock Holt #12 of the Boston Red Sox exits the game after pulling his hamstring muscle running out a double as he is flanked by the trainer and manager Alex Cora #20 in the third inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on April 26, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – APRIL 26: Brock Holt #12 of the Boston Red Sox exits the game after pulling his hamstring muscle running out a double as he is flanked by the trainer and manager Alex Cora #20 in the third inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on April 26, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /

Up: Brock Holt

Brock Holt started off the season with many wondering why he was still on the major league roster. Fans, myself included, wanted to see Tu-Wei Lin or one of the other fan-favorite prospects we felt would contribute more off the bench. We ignored Holt’s strong past performances. We poo-poo’d his propensity for clutch hits. And we yawned at his versatility.

We were all very, very wrong. Wildly so. Holt has been invaluable for most of the season. His versatility, and strong defense at each of his positions has helped the Red Sox weather injuries to Dustin Pedroia and Betts, and the comparatively poor defense of Eduardo Nunez.

Yet, Holt has been much more than a warm body with a glove. Holt is hitting .294 on the season, and finished with a solid .276 average for the month of June. He collected 10 of his 19 RBI last month and perhaps most importantly continued getting on base at a strong clip. His .358 June OBP served as an encore to a .375 number, which itself followed up a .392 April OBP. He’s been making the most of his limited plate appearances, even when he doesn’t get a hit. In doing so he is giving the rest of the lineup more RBI chances.

We were certainly far too harsh on Holt, a career .269 hitter, this offseason. An abysmal 2017 was nothing more than an anomaly. His .200 batting average fell 55 points below his second-worst season since 2013. His OBP and slugging percentage were both similarly unusually depressed. It should have been more surprising if Holt had continued his poor form into 2018 rather than return to being the valuable bench piece he has, more or less, always been.

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