Four Boston Red Sox players made ESPN top 100 ranking for 2020
By Drew Athans
Xander Bogaerts
Coming in at number twenty-eight is the new face of the Red Sox, Xander Bogaerts. He followed up his All-Star season of 2016 with a disappointing 2017 season, but came roaring back in 2018 to have a career year. That landed him at fifty-seven in ESPN’s 2019 rankings and his leap to twenty-eight makes him the only Red Sox player who went up instead of down from last year.
Bogaerts followed up the best season of his career in 2018 with an even better year in 2019, with another All Star nod while vaulting himself into the conversation as one of the top shortstops in the American League.
2018: .288 BA, 23 HR, 103 RBI, 72 R, .360 OBP, .883 OPS (136 games)
2019: .309 BA, 33 HR, 117 RBI, 110 R, .384 OBP, .939 OPS (155 games)
In addition to setting career highs in home runs and RBI in 2019, Bogaerts also smacked 52 doubles, good for second place in the league behind teammate Rafael Devers.
Although he’s been slowed thus far in Grapefruit League action by an ankle injury and only ended up playing in a few games before spring training was cancelled, it would appear that Bogaerts is set to have another big season as befitting his improved ranking.