Bogaerts pumps Martinez’s tires
Gives pep talk to Devers
Few players have the pulse of the clubhouse as deeply as Xander Bogaerts does with the Red Sox.
And few players are as honest about what they see, in good times or bad.
The Red Sox finished an 11-2 win on Monday night to pick up their first win after an 0-3 start in which they were swept by the Orioles, a rebuilding team expected to be one of the worst in baseball.
Bogaerts had a few thoughts, opinions and expectations.
He knew he was better than he had performed over the weekend. He knew J.D. Martinez was swinging the bat well enough to carry the offense if he could get just a little help. And he knew Rafael Devers needed a pep talk.
From the outside, the Sox look like they’re sinking. On the inside, Bogaerts has a way of calming everybody down.
“There are 159 games left before today, you know?” he said after getting four hits in the club’s first victory. “And you just got to take it one day at a time. Sometimes it’s the same as hitting. You want five hits in one at bat. It’s not gonna happen. You might get five hits in one day but not five hits at one at bat. And sometimes you want to make up for those losses that we got. Just got to take it one day at a time.”
Bogaerts was particularly confused about his own start. He was 1-for-12 with two strikeouts and no walks through the first three games, but didn’t feel like he was 1-for-12. In his ninth big league season, Bogaerts has a sense when things are off, and to him, they weren’t.
“You know what was funny, I was telling our hitting coaches, I’m seeing the ball really well,” he said. “If it was a problem with me seeing the ball, like the ball was coming on me quick or for some reason I’m not seeing the ball, I would’ve been really worried. But I was telling them, ‘man, I’m seeing the ball really good.’ I just noticed something in my swing and I talked to them about it. We went over it and tonight it definitely worked.
“Sometimes you want the results right away but it doesn’t always happen. Tonight it happened quicker than I would’ve expected. I was seeing the ball really well, I just wasn’t getting my hits. Obviously tonight was a good night.”
Whatever Bogaerts fixed, it worked. He destroyed the ball in three of his five atbats. He also blooped a single to right field with a nice piece of hitting on a highand-outside fastball. And he grounded into a double play.
His best swing of the night was probably the bloop single — just ask Jerry Remy, who loves when hitters stay back and poke one to the opposite-field — but the hardest-hit ball was a double he roped 105 mph off the bat. He came all the way around to score on the play while the Rays threw the ball around like a Little League team.
The Sox suddenly had energy, and Bogaerts could feel it.
“Our confidence is pretty high right now,” he said, surprisingly.
A big reason is what he’s seeing from Martinez, who was 2-for-3 with a homer, three RBIs and a pair of walks.
Martinez has now gotten on base in 10 of his first 17 plate appearances. He has five extra-base hits, including the team’s only two home runs, his second of which he drilled off Pesky’s Pole in the eighth inning.
“I told you guys last year, I told you guys, bro,” Bogaerts said, referring to his prediction that Martinez would win the MVP if he played enough outfield in 2021. “Last year what you guys saw, that’s definitely not who he is. This is a guy that comes to work and he prepares so much and he relies on his videos heavily and that’s what it takes for him. That’s what changed his career, and I was 100% sure that that was the issue and this year, having that ingame access, him just being able to take notice of his mistakes and get better during the game at bat by at bat, it’s pretty huge.”
One player who isn’t locked in: Devers.
The Sox scored 11 runs on 16 hits and three walks on Monday and the only person who wasn’t on base was Devers, who was 0-for-5. He’s now 0-for-11 to start the year.
“Obviously we have one guy that is not getting the knocks as of now,” Bogaerts said. “But I told him, ‘listen, when your knocks come, they’re gonna come in bunches because that’s the type of leader you are. You know how to hit.’
“It’s not like he forgot how to hit. His last couple of bats, he hit the ball well not those little roll-overs. He drove the ball, pretty much. So, we’ll get him where we want him to be and where he wants to be and then obviously we’ll be a much better team.”
Devers made another defensive gaffe, once again getting in front of Bogaerts on a potential play up the middle while the two were in a shift. Devers chased a ball to his left, Bogaerts chased to his right and Devers beat him there. The two collided and nobody made a play. Bogaerts was slow to get up, but wasn’t hurt.
The mistake offered a reminder that Devers has looked anything but smooth on defense thus far. The routine plays are the killers. But in Bogaerts’ mind, it’s all fixable.
“I told him that’s gonna happen sometimes,” the shortstop said. “We’re going to get in a clash. He wants to get the balls, I want to get the balls also. We’re not used to being in those types of positions. His range is unbelievable because he can get to so many balls.
“Sometimes he tries to do a little too much because he has that ability to catch the balls. Sometimes his throwing might be a little shaky. But since I played with him, his range is something I’ve been impressed with, year in and year out. For him, it’s just the routine plays. If he can make them, that’s what will separate him from being good or being great, just being consistent.”
That’s the way Bogaerts sees it. And he usually sees it pretty well.