Red Sox power rankings: A look at the individual players as the team continues to prove itself worthy of your attention
J.D. Martinez jumped Mookie Betts in this week's ranking.
When October arrives, and the team turns to David Price, it’s likely Red Sox fans will still remember the lefty’s recent disastrous start at Yankee Stadium. But as the postseason approaches, fans should also remember what happened in the week following that start.
After Price took his pummeling, his team responded by sweeping the rest of a six-game road trip, seizing on a swoon from the underperforming Nationals before taking care of business against the bottom-feeding Royals. The team now enters the final week before the All-Star break with a two-game lead atop the American League East and primed with an opportunity to tighten its grip atop the division.
At 62-29, not only did the Sox enter Monday on pace to win 110 games, but that projection might actually be conservative based on what’s to come. No team in baseball has played fewer home games than Boston, which will stage 41 of its final 71 at Fenway Park, where its 28-12 mark through Sunday was good for the second-best winning percentage in the majors (behind only the Yankees).
After last week’s jaunt there’s only one three-city road trip remaining, and that includes stops to face the Blue Jays and Orioles just after each is likely to unload at the trading deadline. And between now and the end of the month Boston will face only one team that’s currently better than .500 on the season. That’s when the Phillies come to town for a two-game visit starting July 30.
Not that winning teams have been particularly problematic for Boston; they’re 32-19 against clubs .500 or better.
In a bad year for competitive balance, especially within the American League, there’s enough fluff on the schedule that we won’t really know for sure if these Red Sox are for real until they prove it in the post season against the Astros, Yankees, or Indians. But the ability to soundly and routinely beat up on the teams they’re supposed to shouldn’t be overlooked.
If you’re interests have been elsewhere on the Boston sports scene, it’s time to start focusing on the Red Sox, because this team continues to prove itself worthy of your attention.
On to this week’s power rankings…
30. Ryan Brasier (Not ranked last week): Six pitchers have thrown at least 30 innings out of the Boston bullpen this season. Eight others have thrown less than 15 innings. Despite a 1.34 ERA and 13 saves at Triple-A, Brasier appears to fit as the latest to take his turn with the revolving final roster spot.
29. Brandon Phillips (28 last week): The 37-year-old former All-Star homered and had three hits over his first two games at Single-A Lowell – where he’s 16 years older than the league average – so the organization’s process of figuring out if he can help in the big leagues has begun.
28. William Cuevas (NR): Cuevas has been relatively effective as a starter at Pawtucket this season (3.65 ERA, 1.18 WHIP), so he could help the Sox in the short term.
27. Steven Wright (26): He’s dealing with knee problems after surgery, and like Pedroia his program has been modified recently. The team says he could be back within a couple of weeks, but given what he’s been through over the past two years it’s hard to consider his health reliable the rest of the way.
26. Brian Johnson (21): Hip inflammation sent him to the DL over the weekend, and forced Cora to fill the spot where Johnson had been decent, yielding three runs over 8.2 innings in two recent starts. He’s expected back by the end of the month.
25. Tyler Thornburg (25): The righty reliever will need to be eased back in if he’s going to assume a meaningful role, at least based on the first two appearances of his return. He’s been scored upon in each, and has yielded three hits in his first 1.1 major-league innings since 2016.
24. Hector Velazquez (23): If the effects of injuries to Johnson and Drew Pomeranz should linger, Velazquez’s importance increases significantly. For now, though, his work primarily comes in blowouts (though it is effective).
23. Brandon Workman (24): Only once since June 16 has Workman entered a game with a margin of fewer than four runs. Though having allowed four baserunners in his previous seven outings, it’s worth wondering when he might be trusted with more responsibility.
22. Christian Vazquez (16): A broken pinkie has sent him to the DL, and will cost him an undefined amount of time – but it did interrupt a one-for-15 slump that had dropped his on-base percentage to .249.
21. Blake Swihart (27): Finally, a role has emerged. With Vazquez’s injury, Swihart is the Red Sox’ backup catcher, and the timing could be fortuitous because he’s picked up a couple of hits in the past week and is four for his last seven.
20. Eduardo Nunez (22): In four games last week, Nunez had a homer and two doubles among seven hits. At .289, his OBP begins Monday higher than it’s been since April 28. With Dustin Pedroia still nowhere close, Nunez remains a vital piece of the puzzle.
19. Brock Holt (20): Even with an 0-for-5 on the Fourth of July, he’s reached base in nine of his past 20 plate appearances, and continues to play a better second base than Nunez.
18. Heath Hembree (18): Over the past month, Hembree has 17 strikeouts in 11 innings, a .081 batting average against, a 1.64 ERA, and has stranded all five of the runners he has inherited. He continues to serve a valuable role in those middle innings.
17. Drew Pomeranz (14): The rehabbing lefty allowed seven Scranton Wilkes-Barre Railriders to reach base in three innings of work at Pawtucket on Saturday, though only one of them scored, and after tossing 60 pitches he went to the bullpen to throw about a dozen more, per the Providence Journal. Progress? Maybe? The Sox need him to be better than that. And soon.
16. Jackie Bradley Jr. (17): Making two of the three outs in an inning is never a good look, especially when the latter comes against a catcher and caps an 0-for-6 night. However, Bradley had hits in his four other games this past week, and his OBP of .292 is not all that different from those of Nunez (.289) or Rafael Devers (.294).
15. David Price (12): Baseball-Reference reports that over the past 28 days, opponents are batting .296 against the lefty, with a .941 OPS. For the season, Price’s ERA+ is 97, which means he is worse than league-average when ballparks are taken into account; the Red Sox’ three other regular starters are all above average, as are Wright and Johnson. If this were September, Price would be pitching for his spot in the postseason rotation.
14. Rafael Devers (9): Two more errors this week bring him to 18 on the season. No other third baseman has more than 11, yet Devers’ range is respectable enough that he’s closer to the middle of the pack in terms of defensive rating, and just behind the Astros’ Alex Bregman according Fangraphs’ calculations.
13. Sandy Leon (19): His offensive production has been steady since late May, and the Sox have won his last eight starts behind the plate. For the season, Boston’s team ERA is 3.16 when throwing to Leon, compared with 3.76 throwing to Vazquez. It’ll be interesting to see if Leon takes over the majority of the catching duties the rest of the way, or if he wears down with the additional work.
12. Eduardo Rodriguez (13): The lefty spun six three-hit innings on Independence Day, and would’ve likely continued deeper had Alex Cora not needed a pinch-hitter for a big spot in a close game. It signaled an encouraging recovery from a rough outing against the Yankees.
11. Steve Pearce (15): So far, he’s doing just as asked. He’s 3-for-7 with two doubles against the lefties he is said to feast upon – and, for good measure, he’s 6-for-13 with two more doubles and two walks against righties. Those numbers will level, of course, but give Dave Dombrowski credit for making a strong under-the-radar acquisition.
10. Joe Kelly (10): It was a nice bounceback week for the righty, who retired all five hitters he faced, whiffing three of them. That snapped a stretch where Kelly ran into trouble in five of six appearances, and may offer some reassurance in the health of the the back of the bullpen.
9. Mitch Moreland (11): He’s a first-time All-Star, and deservedly so, given that his .884 OPS enters Monday as easily the highest among AL first basemen with at least 250 plate appearances. Pearce’s proficiency against righties should help Moreland, too, as his numbers tend to slide in the second half.
8. Matt Barnes (8): In eight scoreless innings since June 17, Barnes has surrendered two hits and two walks while striking out 13. Only one of those appearances came in the eighth inning, and that was Sunday, with the Sox leading by four – but, at this point, Barnes looks like the most reliable option when the manager is looking for a bridge to Craig Kimbrel.
7. Rick Porcello (6): Yes, he went seven innings with nine strikeouts in Kansas City to add his second victory of the week to the six frames of two-run ball he slung in Washington. But, for Porcello, no accomplishment from this week can compare to the three-run double he delivered off Max Scherzer.
6. Xander Bogaerts (7): It was quite a week for the shortstop, who has reached in 14 of his 21 plate appearances over the past seven days, taking eight walks while slugging a couple of homers and plating 10 runs. Over the past four weeks his OPS is .951, and to this point in 2018 an argument can be made that Bogaerts has been the AL’s best shortstop not named Francisco Lindor or Manny Machado.
5. Andrew Benintendi (5): He reached base in 10 consecutive plate appearances over the weekend, and as he pursues a potential 30-30 season – he currently has 14 homers and 16 steals – he could also be an All-Star if the fan vote goes his way. It’s a strong group gunning for that final slot, but Benintendi can make as good a case as any of them.
4. Craig Kimbrel (4): It’ll be a third-straight All-Star game for the closer, whose ERA dipped below two again on Sunday, when he converted his 18th consecutive save chance. He is exactly what the Red Sox thought they were acquiring in November 2015.
3. J.D. Martinez (2): Sunday’s absence due to calf and foot soreness is a reminder that he does have a recent injury history, but those ailments still couldn’t stop him from piling up four straight two-hit games on his way through Washington and Kansas City, or from adding to his major-league lead in homers (27) and RBI (74).
2. Mookie Betts (3): He leads the AL in batting average (.342), slugging (.673), and OPS (1.105), while he’s second in OBP (.432) and runs scored (71), and he’s among the top six in homers (22) and steals (16). It’s difficult to find a weakness in his game – and as impressive as those numbers is the consistency on which they’ve been built this season.
1. Chris Sale (1): A fourth straight game with at least 11 strikeouts extended a run of dominance that has seen him post a 1.10 ERA and allow opponents a .404 OPS in six starts since the Astros had some success against him on June 1. That he’s not a shoo-in to start the All-Star game with his numbers speaks to the other No. 1 arms across the AL, and subsequently his importance to the Sox as their ace.
