Bradley bats around both sides of skill set
He’s not producing record-hitting streaks at this point, and he’s not nearly as consistent as in the opening months, but Jackie Bradley Jr. is still putting a winning imprint on this Red Sox season. Just don’t tell him that. Bradley still demands better of himself, and the center fielder who will likely be named an All-Star this week may just be his own worst critic. His average has taken a dip from .350 to .295 since his 29-game hit streak ended in late May, but good offensive days still come around.
But what may seem like a good offensive day on the surface may not exactly be the case. Take Bradley’s performance in yesterday’s 10-5 win against the Los Angeles Angels.
At a quick glance, Bradley’s 2-for-5 with an RBI would seem satisfactory, especially considering where he once was offensively in his career, but when asked to assess his day at the plate, he was anything but rainbows and unicorns.
“Frustrating,” said Bradley, who also struck out twice. “I don’t like striking out much, especially with guys in scoring position. I feel like I’m getting the pitches to do it. I’m fouling off pitches that I shouldn’t be fouling off, missing pitches that I shouldn’t be missing and putting myself in a hole. Other than that, I mean, I guess I was able to get two hits. I guess that’s good. But I don’t really care too much for striking out a lot.”
Despite what seemed to be Bradley mastering the art of hitting earlier this season, his development still seems to be a work in progress. Manager John Farrell seems to like what he sees despite Bradley’s recent inconsistencies.
“He’s been in a little bit of a dry spell of late,” Farrell said. “The deeper he works into counts seemingly the more quality the at-bat becomes. While he has become a more aggressive hitter over the course of the season, it’s good to see him work some counts, staying in the middle of the field particularly.”
While he continues to work to improve the offensive side of his game, the defense is always there for Bradley.
The first batter of the game, Yunel Escobar, for some reason decided to test Bradley’s arm. Escobar tried to stretch a single into a double, but he was thrown out by a mile by Bradley.
In the third, Bradley caught a deep fly in center and rocketed a throw back in to second base to double off Jett Bandy and end the inning. The double play was the 11th started by Bradley since the beginning of 2014, which is more than any other outfielder in MLB.
The defense, by all accounts, has become a given at this juncture of his career, including to Bradley, who said as much when he was asked what’s more satisfying between driving in a run and saving one.
“I think they’re both satisfying, but for me, at this particular point, I want to drive them in,” Bradley said. “I feel like saving them is just something I’m going to do. It’s a lot harder to drive them in than save them.”
The numbers, at least recently, have supported that. He just might not be totally satisfied until they don’t.