Holt stuck in spring limbo
Utility man fights 3B battle this time
FORT MYERS — It wasn’t until end of spring training last year that Brock Holt realized he was going to be the starting left fielder.
“Once I started getting more of my at-bats in left field, I started putting two and two together,” Holt said yesterday at JetBlue Park.
Now the primary competition to Pablo Sandoval at third base, Holt likely will have to wait just as long to learn what his role will be to start the 2017 season.
Holt said he’ll spend most of his time in the first weeks of camp taking ground balls at third and shortstop, following a plan that’s worked well for him in recent years. A natural second baseman, he believes he doesn’t need as much work at second to feel comfortable when he’s inevitably used as an occasional replacement for Dustin Pedroia.
At some point he’ll likely begin outfield work, but he tends to chase flyballs during batting practice and that’s been ample practice for him.
A former All-Star utility man, Holt isn’t sticking his flag in the ground and declaring a battle with Sandoval at third base, but there’s no denying his preference to find an everyday job with the Red Sox.
“I try to be ready to play wherever and whenever and as much as possible,” he said. “I’m trying to get as many at-bats as I can. It’s easy to be successful on the field when you’re out there every day playing. You can do more when you’re getting those everyday atbats. So I’m trying to do anything I can to crack the lineup any way I can.”
Among the seven positions he’s played in 379 appearances over his five-year career, Holt has the most experience at third base, having 109 career games at the hot corner, though he played just 17 games there last year.
“I think having (infield coach Brian Butterfield) is huge,” Holt said. “I’ve never played third base until I got over to the Red Sox. Just having him, his wisdom, working with him every day, taking ground balls with him has really helped me, not only at third base and the new positions but the positions I came up playing, second base and shortstop as well.”
If Sandoval wins the job at third base, Holt is likely to return to a utility role. Even if Holt does win the job, he’s likely to be rested against lefties for someone like Josh Rutledge and will still be needed to occasionally spell Xander Bogaerts at shortstop and Pedroia at second.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said yesterday he’s still hopeful Sandoval will prove worthy of being the starter.
“I think we’re just really looking to see how he performs versus other guys,” Dombrowski said. “He’s been a good big-league performer in the past. We’re not looking for him to be our star. We’d just like him to be a nice, solid player all around.
“I looked at his swing on the internet a couple times. He’s working out with a pretty good guy by the name of Miguel Cabrera that was helping him a little bit with his swing. I’ve seen Miguel work with other guys. The results are usually good. But we’ll just wait and see. It’s just a matter of how he goes out and performs and works during spring training.”
Same old Pedey
Pedroia arrived to camp yesterday and was not willing to bite on the idea that he is the Red Sox’ new leader, succeeding David Ortiz.
“I don’t look at it any differently than previous years,” he said. “You show up to win every day. That’s what we’re going to try to do. Obviously the guys know if they need anything they can come to me or anybody. That’s what we’re going to try to do.”
Pedroia said he thinks there are multiple leaders in the locker room.
“Mookie ( Betts), Bogey, Jackie ( Bradley Jr.),” he said. “That’s the way they carry themselves and how they act and what they do every day showing up ready to work. Those are leadership qualities that will speak up more as they get older. They have everything that it takes to lead any team.”
Unreturned invites
The Red Sox wouldn’t mind adding some pitching depth, but Dombrowski said it’s been difficult signing non-roster invites this season.
“It’s not financial reasons because we’ve been in a position where I know we’ve made solid offers,” he said. “It’s just that they think that their chances to play here aren’t as good as some other spots. At times there may be other reasons, but that’s it. We’re still open-minded, but we’ve been open-minded for a month and we really haven’t signed a lot of guys, so we’ll see what happens.”
Hoodie wisdom
Dombrowski gave a nod to Patriots coach Bill Belichick when asked about the Red Sox’ expectations this season.
“If you ever want to see anyone deal with expectations in a spectacular way it’s Bill Belichick,” Dombrowski said. “He deals with it on a daily basis and never talking about what’s anticipated ahead and I think that’s a strong message we’ll have for our players. And I think they’ll do it very well. I think they’ll focus on today and worry about today and that’s how you deal with those type of things.”