It makes for some lineup balance, something the Red Sox sorely lacked past the cleanup hitter last season.Īs Dan wrote a few weeks ago, the move to short may be the key to unlocking another level in his play. Having Yoshida lead off with Devers behind him allows Hernandez to bring his contact-hitting abilities to the middle of the lineup, with power hitters in Triston Casas and Adam Duvall behind him. Yoshida’s inclusion in Boston’s lineup puts Hernandez in an enviable position, and almost splits the lineup in two. What they do need is what they also hope to get out of Masataka Yoshida, someone who can consistently put the ball in play, get on base, and set up multi-run scoring situations. They don’t need his bat for pop they have Rafael Devers and Adam Duvall to smack balls into the seats at Fenway. Second base becomes just as crucial as shortstop, and developing chemistry with whomever his opposite-side-of-the-field counterpart may be is just as important to the defensive security of the Red Sox middle infield.Ī projected 2.8 WAR is precisely what the Red Sox need out of Hernandez: a solid, every-day starter. At a position where it’s imperative to be defensively sound - a linchpin of the double play, someone who needs to have the range to cover anywhere from third base to up the middle - any work put in to increase lateral mobility (not just the breakneck speed used as an outfielder to chase down fly balls) is going to make a big difference. Hernandez has had a TON of positional rotation, mainly as a centerfielder with the Red Sox and a second baseman and utility outfielder with the Dodgers. The kicker is how well he will fare over a 162-game season in the infield. The Starter – Kike HernandezĦ4 games started as a shortstop in nine seasons, with decent results. ![]() 6 position as we advance both for this season and the foreseeable future. Between multiple members of the current roster, and several up-and-coming prospects, the Red Sox may in fact have a plan for the no. Not to say Bloom could or should have ponied up that type of a contract, but losing a cornerstone of both the field and the locker room, someone who could have had a “C” stitched on his shoulder? That hurts. An 11-year, $280M deal with the Padres dashed those hopes quickly once free agency started in early December. Oh, what could have been? Going into the 2022-23 offseason, it sounded like keeping Xander Bogaerts was imperative to the mission of Chaim Bloom and co. Trust us: you don’t actually want everything, anyway a little hunger feeds the soul. * Well, not everything, but a lot of things. Let’s continue with the left-side of the infield at shortstop. ![]() Below is an installment in our Positional Preview Series, in which we do a deep dive on each positional group. Welcome to Over the Monster’s 2023 Season Preview! Between now and Opening Day, we’ll be here to tell you anything and everything* you need to know about the upcoming season.
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