Red Sox: Boston’s two up and two down from the week of April 2-8
Three Red Sox on the rise and three on the decline after week one
We’re just over a full week into the 2021 regular season and yesterday’s off-day marked a full week for the Red Sox as their Opening Day was rained out. To say that this season has started off as a bit of a rollercoaster would be a massive understatement. Boston kicked off the season getting swept by the paltry Orioles but would follow that up with a sweep of their own of the defending AL champion Rays.
The Red Sox have since made their way to Baltimore and have taken the first game of a three-game series and raising their record to 4-3 on the early season. As with any team, there are players that are rising to the occasion and have excelled while others have fallen by the wayside a bit. With more than enough time left on the calendar, we could see the six players I have here easily swap spots, totally get hot, or become freezing cold.
But I’m only looking at the first week of the season for this issue of “Three up & Three Down,” so I can’t look too far down the road. There are plenty of people on the roster that I could choose from as we’ve seen some stellar performances while others have left much to be desired. With that said, let’s get started and take a look at the first player I see making their way up!
Up: Red Sox DH J.D. Martinez
This one should come as no surprise as J.D. Martinez has been on a warpath to make sure nobody remembers the 2020 season. All winter long he had to hear about how poorly he performed during the COVID shortened campaign and it ate him alive. He’s spoken about the fact that it annoyed him to no end that people were encapsulating his entire career based on a two-month window under wild circumstances.
Well, if he wanted to make sure everyone forgot what he didn’t do last year and only focused on what he’s doing this year, he’s achieving that goal. There are several guys that are carrying their weight but none have been more instrumental in the early turnaround for the Red Sox than J.D.. The big slugger is currently owning a .433/.469/.867/1.335 line with 2 homers and 12 RBI.
He also leads the entire MLB with 7 doubles and is tied for the lead in Total Bases with 26. Martinez also owns the franchise record for extra base-hits through the mark in the season. There’s always the chance he’ll find a cold spell here or there but if we’re to think that he has a new motivation to shut people up, I don’t know if we’ll see one.
With a chance to once again opt-out of his contract this coming winter this season means more than just a rebound for him. The better he performs the more power he has come negotiating time whether it be for an extension with the Red Sox or with a new club come the offseason. Hopefully, Chaim Bloom has already begun the talks because I’d hate to see an angry J.D. Martinez coming to Fenway in a different uniform.
Down: Red Sox first-baseman Bobby Dalbec
I’m going from one powerhouse to another here but we’re going to be talking about a much different story. This one is a bummer for me because I was ready to drive the Bobby Dalbec War Wagon right to the Commissioner’s Trophy. However, through the first week of the season, the big first baseman has been a massive disappointment. Granted, it’s the first week of his true rookie season but with how he finished 2020 and performed in spring training, there were some lofty goals for Dalbec in 2021.
The story with Bobby D will always be written around the strikeouts. For is hard and far as he can hit a baseball he sure as hell can miss ’em just as often. In fact, he’s had just 19 plate appearances so far this season and has struck out in nearly half of them with 7 whiffs. I wouldn’t be as worried if he had a few more hits scattered in between getting sat down but he has just a pair through five games.
Dalbec quickly became the heir-apparent at first base and that prophecy was sealed when Mitch Moreland was traded at last year’s deadline. He’d play out the final month of the season to the tune of a .263/.359/.600/.959 line with 8 homers and 16 RBI.
At one point he even set the rookie record for consecutive games with a homer with five in a row. He’d follow that up with a .298/.377/.787/1.165 spring training mark blasting 7 homers and bringing in 16 runs.
Sadly, he’s only hitting .111/.158/.111/.269 with zero homers, zero RBI, and just a single walk, and that’s why he’s on my down list for week one.
Up: Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez
I gotta say, I didn’t see this one coming whatsoever. I had high hopes that Christian Vazquez would be able to follow up his insane 2019 and 2020 campaigns, but the man is off the damn charts right now! Let’s just look at some of the numbers that jump right off the screen. He currently leads the Red Sox in AVG (.458), Runs (7), OBP (.500), and is tied for the lead in HR (2), and Stolen Bases (2). That’s right, friends. My man is tied for the team lead in stolen bases!
When you look at the stats for Boston right now you’re going to see one of two names at the top of the leaderboard, Martinez or Vazquez. Those two homers he hit, by the way, one tied the game in extras and the other was a go-ahead blast. The man is showing a level of clutch that I don’t know we’ve ever seen from him and I’m not complaining.
Let’s not forget he has his pitching staff firing on all cylinders. The Red Sox starters have been nothing but strong through their first trip around the rotation and the bullpen is ranked 4th in the AL right now. So Vazqy is getting it done at the plate and behind it which makes him a massive asset to Alex Cora.
He’s also catching a perfect game as he has a 1.000 Fld% with two assists and has caught the only runner that tried to steal on him. The moral of the story? Vazquez is a bad dude.
Red Sox second baseman Kiké Hernandez
This one probably hurts me the most as far as the down players are concerned. I had big hopes for Kiké Hernandez in a Red Sox uniform and so far it’s just not happening. The weird part about it is that he absolutely mashed in spring training but once the calendar flipped to April, he went ice cold. Not only is his bat beyond depressing (.179/.226/.321/.547) but his defense has left much to be desired.
He’s been strong in the outfield and at shortstop but his turn at second base led the Red Sox to some early-season misery. After all, it was his error in the first game that put an “L” next to Nathan Eovaldi’s name.
Before the season began I pegged Hernandez as the player to watch for the Red Sox based on his history with the Dodgers and his killer spring training. One week in and I’ve got some egg on my face courtesy of the lead-off man, but there’s still time to turn it around.
Cora has been using him more in the outfield as of late after his rocky beginning at second base while also seeing some time at first. As much as many, me included, wanted him to be the everyday second baseman I just don’t see it, at least not yet. Christian Arroyo is holding down the fort pretty damn well right now which may force Boston to lean on Kiké’s utility capabilities.
Hopefully, he can figure things out and quickly because I’d hate to see him on the wrong side of the lineup card.
Red Sox Honorable Mentions
The next two pitchers may share a name but we’ve seen two very different starts to 2021 for them. First off, I’m going to gush over Garrett Whitlock for a bit and how much of a damn stud he is. Chaim Bloom picked him up from the Yankees in the Rule 5 Draft and up to this point, it may be the move of the season. Boston’s bullpen has been lights-out through the first week of the campaign and a big part of that has been thanks to Whitlock. Had Vazqy and J.D. not been absolutely murdering the ball, he would’ve made the full list this week.
The righty has pitched 5.1 innings in two games so far with a 0.00 ERA, 8K’s, 0BB’s, and just 2 hits. He has been absolutely electric and it’s been said by AC himself that the team has big hopes and goals for the reliever down the road. I’m not sure many had expected him to make the Opening Day roster but considering he went 1-1 in spring training with a 1.00 ERA, 12K’s, and 0BB’s in 9.0 innings of work. You make a statement like that and you better be on that roster come April 1st.
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Now, onto the less fun Garrett to talk about. Garrett Richards has not made a good impression so far in his short time in Boston. I’m sure many of you are already yelling that it was just one start and I need to give him a chance, and I will. That’s why I do this series once a week. However, after a very rocky spring training and a massacre against the Orioles in his first start, I had to include him as an honorable mention for the down list.
Thanks to that drubbing by Baltimore he’s currently 0-1 with a 27.00 ERA. He only worked two innings in that game while giving up seven runs on six hits. He also walked a pair while striking about two as well. He’s had an injury history a mile long but was a cheap signing by Bloom at just $8.5M for the year. The definition of a low risk/high reward pick up if he can stay healthy and find his command. I didn’t include him on the actual list because I didn’t have expectations for him, so he can’t really disappoint me.
This Red Sox club is showing some serious promise after a rough Opening Day weekend. They’ve since won four straight and are sitting atop the AL East alongside the Orioles. With two more games in Baltimore this weekend that power balance could fully shift toward Boston. It’s still too early to tell just what type of team we have here but base on the first week I think they’re far more dangerous than most expected them to be.