Red Sox player power rankings: Mookie Betts grabs top spot from Xander Bogaerts

Mookie Betts (right) celebrats with teammate David Ortiz (left) after a home run. Globe Staff Photo/Jim Davis

July 4, 2016

5 minutes to read

COMMENTARY

Sometimes, the sky is really falling. And this week it certainly seemed like it was, especially after Saturday’s embarrassing 21-2 drubbing at the hands of the Angels. Yet when we step back, we see that things could be a lot worse for the Red Sox. Even after the 19-run drubbing, the Red Sox finished the first half of their season with a +46 run differential that ranks eighth in baseball and a .538 winning percentage that is tied for eighth, and is tied for fourth in the American League.

By advanced metrics like Base Runs the team has the fourth-best run differential in the majors. Could the Red Sox be better?

Sure.

But just like Chicken Little, we would be well advised to withhold the doomsday forecasts for just a little bit while longer.

29. Clay Buchholz (16): The sky isn’t falling on the team level, but for Buchholz it has already fallen. FINISH HIM!

28. Ryan Hanigan (28): Moves up a spot in this edition by not being Clay Buchholz.

27. Josh Rutledge (28): Ditto.

26. Blake Swihart (21): He’s back in the batting cage, but still a way’s off; and the Sox have no shortage of left-field candidates in the interim. If only he played another position.

25. Sean O’Sullivan (NR): Don’t be fooled by O’Sullivan getting the win on Sunday, he still isn’t very good.

24. Robbie Ross Jr. (12): Since 1913, only 258 relievers had allowed six or more runs in 1/3 of an inning of work or less. This past week, Ross became the 259th. That’s the sort of historical list a pitcher does not wish to find himself on, and it alone is enough to drop him precipitously.

23. Koji Uehara (13): Uehara continues to be used in suboptimal conditions, like on Monday in Tampa when he entered the game with the team down six runs. But at a certain point the excuses melt away, and he needs to perform. His ERA, FIP, walk percentage and home run ratios are all the worst of his career.

22. Ryan LaMarre (27): He wasn’t much use at the dish, but he did toss a scoreless inning on the mound, giving him a 0.00 ERA for the fortnight that Ross and Uehara can’t claim.

21. Chris Young (11): Just when he was hitting well and earning regular playing time he came up lame, but it looks like he won’t be out long.

20. Bryce Brentz (NR): Quietly one of the nicer recent stories, Brentz is hitting .308 since he got called up, and tallied his first major league homer. With a .412 batting average on balls in play, it likely won’t last very long, but Brentz — now 27 — has waited a long time for this shot, and it’s nice to see him doing well.

19. Tommy Layne (18): He wasn’t nearly as bad as some of his bullpen mates the past two weeks, and got in more work than nearly everyone in the bullpen to boot. Sometimes, you just need to soak up innings, and Layne did that.

18. Sandy Leon (23): Leon has as many extra-base hits in his first 40 plate appearances this season (six) as he did in his previous 235 from 2012-2015.

17. Matt Barnes (25): If you’ve been reading these Red Sox Player Power Rankings this season, you know I’ve constantly harped about Barnes’ walk rate. But lo and behold, Barnes didn’t issue a walk in any of his five appearances the past two weeks. Time will tell if he can keep it up or if this is an anomaly, but it’s a good sign for sure.

16. Marco Hernandez (19): He’s been valuable as a spot starter and bench piece, and has now started at all infield positions except first base.

15. Travis Shaw (15): If you were hoping that Shaw’s three-hit day would help pull him out of his tailspin, you weren’t alone. But it didn’t take. Still, with Hernandez playing well and Brock Holt back, the team doesn’t have to rely on Shaw to start every game.

14. Brock Holt (22): While he still may not be 100% symptom free, he reached base five times in his first two games back.

13. Christian Vazquez (24): Vazquez performed better at the dish the past two weeks, as he actually drew three walks. Still, the team might be better off upgrading at the catcher position.

12. Junichi Tazawa (9): Tazawa has struggled recently, but the bet here is that he will turn it around soon.

11. Heath Hembree (17): Even though he has the second-highest BABIP among Sox relievers (only Robbie Ross is higher) he is maintaining the best ERA and third-best FIP among them. No matter the situation, Hembree has been a rock.

10. David Price (7): Mr. Price’s Wild Ride continues unabated. While he’s still been an above average pitcher, he’s on pace for his worst season since 2011. Sox fans will be hoping for more 10-strikeout games.

9. Rick Porcello (10): Porcello’s eight strikeouts were his most since he struck out eight and nine batters on April 15 and 20, respectively.

8. Craig Kimbrel (8): While Kimbrel’s results have been up to his standards this season, he has traded a good percentage of ground balls for fly balls, which is generally not a great idea. At the very least, this is something to keep an eye on.

7. Dustin Pedroia (6): After hitting 22 percent above league average in April and 30 percent above league average in May, Pedroia slipped to four percent below league average in June. If that ends up being his worst month, that’ll work out just fine.

6. Jackie Bradley Jr. (5): Bradley hasn’t yet put another hitting streak together, but his hits are still coming in bunches. In the last four games in which he got a hit, he actually got two hits.

5. Steven Wright (4): His eight-run drubbing in Texas is cancelled out by his nine-inning, one-run, no-decision effort against the White Sox. His effort against the Angels was not a black mark for him because his manager should have known to get him out of the game before he could cough up that grand slam.

4. Xander Bogaerts (1): Bogaerts gives up the mantle after struggling recently. He is still drawing walks, but may need to make some adjustments as teams pitch to him more carefully.

3. Hanley Ramirez (14): Hustlin’ and hittin’, Hanley Ramirez has been red hot lately. In fact, aside from a slow start to the season in April, Ramirez has been a pleasant surprise. And in the past two weeks, he’s been even better, and looked like the MVP-caliber hitter we knew him as before he came to Boston.

2. David Ortiz (2): By wRC+, this has been the best first half of David Ortiz’s 20-year career.

1. Mookie Betts (3): He’s hitting for more power, he’s playing better defense, and he’s avoided the droughts at the plate that characterized his 2015 season. There are nitpicks here and there, but Betts is rapidly becoming one of the best players in the game.