In his first season with the Boston Red Sox, Alex Bregman posted respectable numbers at Fenway Park. In 236 plate appearances, he slashed .246/.347/.414 and hit six of his 18 homers there.
These numbers got here in an injury-filled season the place he performed in simply 114 video games, bringing down his profession numbers on the plate in Boston, the place he is now slashing .283/.389/.509 in 77 profession video games.
As Bregman opted out of his three-year, $120M deal after one season in Boston, the query turns into how crucial is it not just for the Purple Sox to attempt to convey him again, but in addition to convey him again so as to add a right-handed bat to the order.
With out Bregman, Boston’s roster is stuffed with left-handed hitters. That is one thing that Purple Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow acknowledged in Las Vegas throughout the latest Main League Baseball Common Supervisor conferences.
“Lots has been made from the skew of our roster to left-handed hitters and our park and the way favorable it may be for right-handed hitters to place the ball within the air to the pull aspect, or lefties who can go the opposite approach,” Breslow stated. “There are guys who can hit the ball out of any ballpark, however there are definitely profiles that match Fenway higher than others.
“We simply need to guarantee that we have thought by means of what the ballpark results could be earlier than making any selections.”
Do Purple Sox want Alex Bregman to stability lineup?
Final season, Bregman was a batter who hit the ball extra up the center than pulling it, per Baseball Reference. In 197 at-bats, he went up the center, slashing .294/.291/.442. Examine that to the 115 at-bats the place he pulled the ball and posted a .374/.374/.765 slash line.
That follows a profession pattern the place Bregman has hit the ball extra up the center throughout his 10-year MLB profession (together with 9 with the Houston Astros), however posted increased numbers when pulling.
Boston might be attempting this offseason to not solely doubtlessly substitute Bregman within the lineup, but in addition the facility potential that was misplaced when Rafael Devers was traded to the San Francisco Giants in mid-June. For essentially the most half, the Purple Sox had been ready to try this throughout the common season, ending ninth amongst MLB’s 30 groups with a .421 slugging share.
Nonetheless, as soon as the postseason arrived, Boston slugged simply .260 and hit one house run in its three-game wild-card loss to the New York Yankees.
“In an ideal world, I’d suppose we’d need to stability out the lineup a bit. That stated, I feel when you’ll be able to hit the ball out of the park, it doesn’t actually matter,” Breslow stated. “I feel we have now discovered that lefties can use the wall and create a superb offensive setting and righties who can pull the ball within the air can do the identical factor. There are a selection of various methods for us to enhance our slug, however I feel this concept that we are able to do extra harm on balls on play is definitely an accurate one.”
We are going to discover out this offseason if that “good world” features a right-handed energy hitter like Bergman.
All quotations obtained firsthand except in any other case famous.
