Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts finally makes his spring debut
It’s been a long time coming but Xander Bogaerts finally made his Red Sox spring training debut this afternoon. The veteran shortstop didn’t play in the field today but he was able to get in some at-bats against real opposition. Boston’s longest-tenured player has been on the sidelines with an injured shoulder but now that he’s medically cleared, Opening Day is firmly in his sights.
Bogey didn’t make any waves in the batter’s box today but just getting him out there was a step in the right direction. He was shut down recently due to soreness in his throwing shoulder due to not being able to properly train in Aruba over the offseason. Due to the strict COVID protocols in Aruba, he wasn’t able to get in as much throwing and fielding work as he would’ve liked. Bogey then ramped his training up a few too many notches and ran out of gas in his arm.
Luckily some rest and pacing have allowed him to make a quick return to the lineup and all signs are pointing to him being ready to get the damn thing done on Opening Day. Once his afternoon was done he spoke with the media and was pretty happy with getting back into action today and that April 1st against the Orioles is in the front of his mind.
"“Yeah, I will be completely ready [for Opening Day],” Bogaerts said. “I feel completely ready right now. Just looking forward to continuing to strengthen my shoulders and working with the training staff and just sticking to the routine we have going on right now. It’s all about me getting the routine with the baseball activities now, like cage work and just getting BP and throwing to the bases and stuff like that.”"
Having Bogey fully healthy and in the lineup, every night will be a big step toward Alex Cora finding success this season. He’s going to need everyone to step their game up especially from what we saw from this group the last two seasons but that all starts with Xander. Boston hasn’t had an official captain since Jason Varitek retired but if anyone exemplifies that mantle, it’s X. Not only is he Boston’s longest-tenured player but he’s become the foundation and a leader of this team.
We’re just a few weeks away from Opening Day and based on how the Red Sox have handled Bogey’s injury I have zero doubts that he’ll be at 100% for Baltimore to come to Fenway Park. Even in what was a massively down year for the team in 2020, Xander did what we’ve become accustomed to seeing from the former All-Star. He tallied a .300/.364/.502/.867 line with 11 homers and 28 RBI in a season that was lost well before it even began.
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In his debut today he went 0-2 but things were more about getting him back into a live setting and against real opposition. His bat will come back with more reps and once he’s getting fieldwork in during games it’s just a matter of time. Alex Speier from The Boston Globe mentioned that Bogey would be DH’ing again tomorrow while the timetable for him to get in at shortstop is still undecided, though he has hopes for early next week.
"“I would say about Tuesday. I don’t know how they think, but I think I’ll be able to do that by Tuesday,” said Bogaerts. “Just being able to throw to the bases and all that regular stuff, I started today with that, so just a couple more days of sharpening my angles and my release point and stuff like that.”"
I think I can speak for all of Red Sox Nation in that I was stoked to see Bogaerts in a live game scenario today and can’t wait to get him back on the field fully. He’s easily one of Cora’s most important weapons on this team, if not the most important. This squad will be on a redemption tour of sorts to remind the baseball world that they’re more 2018 and less 2020, and Bogey will be leading that charge. Today was a step in the right direction to getting him back to 100% and the next few days will give us even more of a glimpse into what we may be able to expect.