Kevin Pillar: ‘It’s been extremely difficult to get on the same page with a lot of people’

The Red Sox held a team meeting. Here's what was discussed.

Red Sox' Kevin Pillar detailed what was said in the team's meeting about their struggles this season. Jim Davis/Globe Staff

By Deyscha Smith

August 17, 2020

2 minutes to read

With the Red Sox currently 6-16 and ranked last in the AL East, the team reportedly held a meeting on Saturday afternoon to discuss their losing streak this season. The meeting, which was held at their hotel in New York, was an open dialogue where veteran and younger players on the team had the opportunity to address the entire group, according to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo.

Outfielder Kevin Pillar said the players sat at least six feet apart and wore masks due to COVID-19. After losing to the Yankees, 4-2, on Sunday, Pillar detailed what was said in the meeting, as well as how changes due to the coronavirus have impacted the team.

“Especially for us, I believe, with the configurations we have in Fenway, not having the locker room dynamic, it’s been extremely difficult to get on the same page with a lot of people,” he said. “Normally you would have your locker room dynamic, win [or] loss, you talk to guys in the locker room, you pick up guys if they had a bad game, you encourage guys who went out there and did some things that might go unnoticed, then you get on the road and you’re sharing buses, you’re sharing plane, you get a chance to walk around, sit next to guys, play cards, hang out with guys, really get to know guys.”

Kevin Pillar talks Red Sox team meeting … pic.twitter.com/WOsFDqtdAp

— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) August 17, 2020

Pillar said he feels like the virus has impacted the team’s ability to be around each other and build a connection.

“It’s been a challenge and we just, like I mentioned, we just need to find ways to stay together and find ways to make this fun,” he continued. “It’s definitely unique, it’s hard and it’s even worse when you’re not playing really well, you start to think about all the external factors.”

While there are no doubts that this season has been anything but normal, Pillar does not view it as an excuse for the team’s performance. He has been blunt in the past about how the Red Sox need to deal with the lack of normalcy. Overall, the players tried to reiterate that making this season as “as normal as possible” could benefit them in the future.

“We, first-hand, just got to witness a couple of teams that are obviously playing well and have beat us,” he said. “You look across the dugout and the guys seem excited, they’re pumped up, they’re high fiving and they’re making it as normal as possible and I think that was the message we were trying to get across was let’s make this as normal as possible. Stop feeling bad for ourselves because we have to wear masks. These are just things that have to be done. It’s 2020, get over it, and let’s go out and play and try to have fun with it.”