Where Jackie Bradley Jr. fits in with the Red Sox’ focus on improved defense
Will Bradley Jr. hit well enough for the Sox to keep him in right field?
COMMENTARY
We have spent an inordinate amount of time this spring thinking about both the Red Sox infield setup and the pitching staff. With good reason, given the money on the table for each group and, especially on the pitching side, the never-ending feeling what’s here isn’t enough.
Let’s fret about the outfield too, shall we? Balanced diet and all.
Boston’s outfield a year ago was key in turning a pleasant surprise Red Sox season into a playoff berth and ALCS run. It can be again.
And given the competition just within the AL East, I dare say it’ll need to be.
Kiké Hernández, signed mostly to play second base, ended up third in the majors among center fielders in defensive runs saved in 2021. Hunter Renfroe went from a dreadful 2020 to nearly a 30 HR/100 RBI season with an (often uncalibrated) cannon arm. Alex Verdugo’s offensive numbers slipped, but he was still safely better than league average and good enough for left field at Fenway Park.
Two-thirds of that trio is back in 2022, with Renfroe gone to Milwaukee for prospects and old-friend Jackie Bradley Jr. who, as you may have heard a few times, was the worst offensive player in baseball last season.
Cleansing breath. He still regularly does stuff like this, as he’s shown this spring.
Is that enough? Because that’s about the extent of the puzzle. J.D. Martinez will again start as the No. 4 outfielder — “we put him in a spot and he makes the plays,” manager Alex Cora told reporters last week about his regular designated hitter. Career quad-A guy Rob Refsnyder is a righthanded hitting option in line to break camp with the team, with Jarren Duran lurking in Triple A Worcester.
That Bradley Jr. is plugging into right, not center, is a testament to both how good Hernández was a year ago and how difficult right field is at Fenway Park. Given he’ll mostly play against righthanders, and probably bat eighth when he does, there’s a danger in overstating just how much Bradley Jr.’s reunion with hitting coach Peter Fatse needs to do.
“What really struck me from the first conversation I had was just his awareness of who he is, what he’s done, what he’s tried. What’s worked, what hasn’t worked,” Fatse, then an assistant, told WEEI.com after Bradley’s strong 2020 season. “He would come in. He knew his routine. If he had a question, he’d ask, but if not, we were working on autopilot.”
Going from a .497 OPS to the .732 — about six percent below league average — from his eight prior years in Boston feels like a good bar to aim for. (JBJ’s walk rate dropping by a third from 2019 to 2021, and his strikeout rate topping 30 percent when his chase rate was essentially the same, however, is pretty alarming.)
Bradley is a better defender than Renfroe. He’s also unquestionably a better baserunner, the other talked-about focus point of Cora and Chaim Bloom this winter. That and his leadership qualities should greatly help justify his place, as should a deep 1 through 7 in the batting order.
Big, given the lack of easy alternatives available. Martinez is fine in the outfield, but Cora admitted they leaned too hard on him there last year to both sides’ detriment. Refsnyder has never gotten 200 plate appearances in a season, and only topped 200 innings in the outfield for the first time last year.
Is Bobby Dalbec athletic enough to man left? I suppose, but I’m not eager to find out. After Duran’s dreadful 33-game debut last summer, assuming he’s a ready-made option at 25 feels premature.
And none of this touches on Verdugo, an infusion of energy who for lineup balance issues against righties is shifting from primarily hitting second to fifth, ahead of Trevor Story and into a spot more necessary for run production.
The hope is that Hernández and Bradley form a formidable duo just behind Story and Xander Bogaerts, with Verdugo improving just by osmosis. Boston’s pitching staff is a step behind most of the other AL contenders, and strong defense is clearly a big piece of covering that.
Not unlike the back end of the rotation, though, seeing what the plan is and having a plan should it not fall together are two different things. The lineup juggling that’s been arguably Cora’s trademark since he got here figures to be in full effect again this season.
“We have a chance to be great defensively. We do,” he told reporters last week. “You see the tool set, what they do. Hopefully the feeling is if you hit it in the air, we’re going to catch it.”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com