The Boston Red Sox have seen a boost since the promotion of Michael Chavis. Though he’s off to a hot start he knows there’s still work to do.
The Red Sox have been the talk of the baseball world lately as they’ve stormed back from a dismal April to being just 3 games from the top of the AL East. A big reason for the recent success that Boston is seeing is rookie powerhouse, Michael Chavis. He was the top prospect in the farm system and since his promotion, he’s more than backed it up, but the work doesn’t stop with the call-up.
After a ridiculous start at the plate where it seemed like Chavis was seeing beach balls coming from the mound, he went cold. That isn’t new for a hitter the style of Chavis where it seems like it’s all or nothing. But he doesn’t take the cold spell lightly and has been putting in as much work in the cages as he can to get back to form.
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Whatever extra reps he’s been putting in during the downtime showed up huge on Sunday as he was a key component in the Red Sox 11-2 destruction of the Mariners. Of those 11 runs, Chavis was responsible for 5 and did so in just 3 hits. Not a bad day at all for a guy who was in a rut. The Ice Horse still wasn’t happy with his play on Mother’s Day though and went right into the batting cages after the game.
The slump that Chavis found himself in recently had some fans getting frustrated. With every swing, it looked like he was trying to send the ball out of the park instead of just playing some small ball. That very well may just be his swing style versus actually trying to kill every ball, but it created plenty of outs. On Sunday afternoon though it seemed like he was back to the form we saw when he first got the call and the Ice Horse was back.
Chavis spoke to the media after the game and actually broke up his batting practice to meet with them and explained it’s all part of his process.
"“I don’t like the idea if my swing doesn’t feel good, just be like, ‘Oh, I guess it will feel better tomorrow’ or something like that,” Chavis said. “I have my own time just to swing and feel it out myself. It’s just a little bit different when there’s a bunch of people around (pregame). Maybe somebody else is waiting so you need to get your routine out of the way so they can hit. I’ve done this since I was a kid. Even when I was like 14 years old, after a game I’d go hit if I didn’t feel good. In high school, I did the same thing. It’s part of my thing.”"
It shows a great level of discipline on his behalf that he could just shrug off the slump and go to tomorrow but instead he’s in trying to fix the issue. Now I’m more than sure that 99% of hitters do this and put in the extra time but for a kid Chavis’ age it seems different. We’ve all heard the stories of J.D. Martinez, Mookie Betts, and Xander Bogaerts all getting in extra cage time when things didn’t feel right. But with Chavis being a 23-year old rookie it shows a level of maturity and professionalism to me.
"“I’ve been scuffling along a little bit,” Chavis said. “But I’ve been seeing the ball well. And I’ve been working, obviously. But I’ve been missing some pitches before tonight. So the work’s not done. I’m going to keep working and making adjustments. But it was nice to see some results tonight.”"
The Red Sox will have an influx of talent coming back soon with Brock Holt and Dustin Pedroia getting closer to returns as each day passes. Alex Cora will have a tough decision on what to do with his roster when he needs to start moving chess pieces. Holt isn’t as much of an issue as he’s incredibly versatile and can play anywhere. Pedroia will most likely want to work towards being the everyday second baseman again which will knock Chavis out of the role.
What Chavis has in his favor is that much like Holt, he’s versatile. He can play first, second, and his natural position of third. That along with a hot bat will be what keeps him with the major league club. Looking at the roster the easy move to make room for Holt and Pedroia will be to drop some relievers. That may sound weird but the Red Sox have a core set of relievers that are reliable and another column that are untrustworthy. Time to trim the fat.
Michael Chavis has more than earned his spot with the Red Sox since his promotion to the main roster in Tampa Bay. Even when things aren’t going how he’d like he puts in the extra work to correct the flaws. Add that level of professionalism in with the energy that he supplies the team and he’s a perfect fit. He is ready to be in the majors and he’s more than shown that in the sample size we’ve gotten. If he keeps putting up numbers as he did on Sunday, he won’t be able to be denied.