Bogaerts paves path for young stars
Four years ago, almost to the day, Red Sox manager John Farrell was given the reins to an unusual sort of player. Not an unprecedented player, but an atypical big league player.
Only 20 years old. Highly touted. Hurried through the minor leagues to solve a third-base problem that had a revolving door of uncertainty most of the season.
That was Xander Bogaerts in 2013, and in the story of Farrell’s tenure in the Red Sox dugout, he was the original Rafael Devers.
In fact, Farrell can draw a straight line from Bogaerts’ arrival in 2013, to the call-up of Andrew Benintenti in 2016, to the current role of Devers in the middle of the Sox lineup.
“Maybe Bogey’s situation in ’13 allows us to be a little bit more aggressive with the guys the last two years,” Farrell said yesterday. “Where the initial intent going in is to ease them in, pick spots, and yet that’s lasted about three games. And then all of a sudden, they’re off and running and they’re main contributors, which Raffy is right now.”
When Bogaerts arrived on Aug.19, 2013, it was a direct response to the earlyseason struggles of Will Middlebrooks, the midseason trade of Jose Iglesias and the still unestablished potential of Brock Holt. The Red Sox needed a third baseman, and they had a talented kid who just might fit the bill.
Bogaerts was still a month and a half from his 21st birthday with less than a half-season of Triple-A experience, nearly all of which had come at shortstop. He played sparingly when he first arrived, but Bogaerts became the everyday third baseman from the end of the ALCS through the World Series.
The Cardinals were back at Fenway Park last night for the first time since that championship series. Perhaps they find it perfectly normal for the Red Sox to have such a young kid at the hot corner.
“Different team, very different team,” Farrell said. “That was a much more veteran-laden team (in 2013). (Bogaerts) was coming up to play another position, not his original one. That had a lot to do with it. In this case, with Benny and Raffy, they’re coming up and playing a position they have been for a number of years already — well, in Benny’s case a year in pro ball. So, we were conscious of a guy moving positions, flying through the minor leagues, and a lot being thrown on his plate at once. You look back at his game log, and it was a little bit more sporadic than these last two primarily because of that reason.”
Did Farrell learn anything from the experience of Bogaerts that’s helped him manage Benintendi — who arrived last year having just turned 22 — or Devers, who was 20 when he showed up last month?
“You look upon the individual and see how they’re reacting and handling the situation,” Farrell said. “Their paths here are so drastically different, so the only commonality is how do you feel that player will handle the challenge regardless of where they come from?”
Bogaerts was ranked by Baseball America as the game’s eighth-best prospect heading into the 2013 season, Benintendi was ninth on that list in the midseason rankings of 2016, and Devers was ranked sixth by Baseball America in the middle of this season.
No player gets to the big leagues at such a young age without such high-end talent, but Farrell said it was the mental evaluation that really linked Bogaerts, Benintendi and Devers in the Red Sox’ decision to call each one up to the big leagues.
And that ability to handle the pressure and perform at this level has affected the way Farrell managed each one.
“That’s probably the main factor in the development staff saying, you know, we wouldn’t have hesitation bringing this guy to the big leagues,” Farrell said. “It’s more of, how do they anticipate he would react to adversity or challenging times? Would he handle it mentally and stay strong, or would he crumble? If they did not have that feel or that stamp of approval, we might not see them here yet.”