My list of early Red Sox out of the gate surprises and non-surprises
The season has barely started and there are a few Boston Red Sox surprises and nonsurprises for me. As with any season that can change dramatically as more games and therefore a larger sample is tacked on.
No surprise is the fast start by J.D. Martinez. Martinez has his video safe place back, but 2020 was just an anomaly. Martinez is just too good a hitter to fail. And success means potential profit. J.D. has another year to crank out his standard 30/100/.300 slash and start negotiating an extension.
A surprise was the recent five innings by Eduardo Rodriguez. E-Rod complained of a “tired arm” and to me at least has looked one good all-you-can-eat buffet away from being Pablo Sandoval. The start itself could be classified as “meh” but it is something to build on. They need an ace.
No surprise that Bobby Dalbec is racking up the whiffs. Dalbec was at 44.4 K% in 2020 and has seven in 19 plate appearances which is a slight improvement. Dalbec’s calling card is the long ball and he may soon be testing home run possibilities in Worcester.
A surprise is sending Tanner Houck to what is termed the alternate training site. Houck was impressive in his only start and the reward was a roster numbers game that sent him packing. Nice way to reward good work.
No surprise that manager Alex Cora weighed in on another social issue. This time it was the moving of the All-Star Game from Georgia. Any issues that happen to center – even remotely – on cheating it would be advisable for Cora to avoid. I expect trash cans somewhere.
No surprise is the start by Martin Perez and it should be reflective of his season as it has been for his career. A bottom of the rotation pitcher that you hope scheduling allows to hurl against the other team’s bottom feeder so you have a 50/50 chance at a win.
A surprise is just one walk in four innings by projected closer Matt Barnes. Of course, it is just three games but the sign is a huge positive. I considered Barnes as the closer to being a potential disaster based on his erratic control.
A surprise is Christian Vazquez morphing into Salvador Perez with the stick. Vaz has been surprisingly efficient the last few years with the bat. This season he is simply on fire and though it may not last it is interesting to note that only Joe Mauer has ever won an American League batting title as a catcher.
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No surprise is the steady hitting and solid defense of Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts will never win a Gold Glove but he makes the plays. Bogaerts is a yearly threat to win a Silver Slugger – he has three – and with $300 MM contracts being issued to shortstops?
A surprise is Garrett Whitlock and BSI’s Steve Brown covered Whitlock in this article. I expected the gloss on Whitlock to be removed quickly. A Rule 5 with limited experience coming off major arm surgery. So far it is as positive as his spring training performance.
A surprise is another Garrett – Garrett Richards. Richards had a real furball in his first Red Sox start that was in Charlie Zink territory. This was the last thing Boston needed with a rotation that is – to be polite – questionable. Richards needs a few positives in his next April starts. I expected a lot more.
No surprise in Hirokazu Sawamura who has suffered a few nicks in three games but shows enough to be a fine addition for the sixth and seventh innings. The only warning sign is BB/9.
Again, it’s still very early in the season but with a week under their belts, the Red Sox are starting to take shape. As we all know, next week this list could very well be flipped or even a new crop of surprises may pop up. After an abysmal start against Baltimore, Boston has stormed back to sit atop the AL East alongside the O’s after cranking out four straight wins. Going from 0-3 to 4-3 while sweeping the defending AL champs in the blink of an eye is the dictionary definition of a surprise.