Red Sox News: Concern over balk rules, dark horse prospect Chase Meidroth, more
We finally get to talk about actual Boston Red Sox baseball stuffs instead of just marking days off the calendar waiting for spring training to begin. First, with MLB announcing that they are going to be more strictly enforcing its existing balk rules, we took a look at some of the Boston players that could struggle with the enforcement. A pair of newly acquired pitchers feature prominently.
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We all know that major market sports reporters can be, and this is being kinder than necessary, pretty tone-deaf when talking about players and their worth. However, Kiké Hernández handled one reporter questioning his ability to fill the void left by Xander Bogaerts just perfectly. Hats off to general manager Chaim Bloom for standing up for Hernandez, as well.
Finally, we took a look at an overlooked member of the Red Sox's draft class in fourth round pick Chase Meidroth. Meidroth may not have the same prospect pedigree as Boston's day one picks, but he posted a .977 OPS in 22 games during his pro debut season. It will be very interesting to see how Chase does as he faces more advanced pitching.
MLB News
As for news from around the league, it sounds like Jacob deGrom is already dealing with injury issues in his first camp with Texas Rangers. DeGrom is being delayed a few days because he experienced tightness in his side during a bullpen session. It currently sounds like a precautionary thing that also has the cold nasty weather to blame. However, this wouldn't be the first time an injury to Jacob went from minor to more than minor, so its worth monitoring.
News was worse elsewhere in the American League as the New York Yankees got some rough news about Frankie Montas. It was announced yesterday that Montas' season is now in jeopardy as he has to have arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Montas' balky shoulder has been bothering him for a some time and it sounds like he suffered a few setbacks this offseason. Now the Yankees may be without him for all of 2023 and will have to figure out how to replace his production.