Holt’s impactful
Ballclub better for return
Playing baseball through concussion symptoms isn’t supposed to look this easy.
And yet there was Brock Holt yesterday, falling behind 0-2 in the third inning and then hammering a looping breaking ball to right-center field. The ball bounced atop the wall in front of the Red Sox bullpen and in, where it was caught by Robbie Ross Jr. and gave the Sox their first lead of the day against the American League’s best team.
Holt’s two-run homer in the Sox’ 12-5 win against the Rangers was his fifth hit in three games since returning from a six-week absence. He also threw out a runner at home plate from left field to end the Rangers’ fourth inning.
With Holt back in the fray, the Red Sox spent almost four hours stepping all over the Rangers in an Independence Day celebration that felt like the calendar had been flipped back to May, when the offense was scoring at a historic pace. The Sox erupted for a season-high 21 hits, including nine doubles.
In the three games Holt has played since his return, the offense has produced 27 runs.
Holt alone isn’t driving in all those runs. He’s only driven in three. But watch the way the bottom of the lineup clicks with Holt in it.
Yesterday, Holt batted seventh. Travis Shaw had three hits behind him. Sandy Leon had four hits from the No. 9 spot. Holt has been a spark. “You could definitely say that,” Mookie Betts said. “He plays a really good left field, obviously. And he works pitchers as well. He doesn’t go up there and swing at just one pitch. He makes you use six or seven pitches every at-bat. I think that helps wear down pitchers.”
Holt had just the one hit, after going 4-for-8 in his first two games back from the disabled list, but it was a big one. Of his 10 home runs for the Sox since 2013, five have given the team a lead.
His is not a power game. He had just 35 extra-base hits in 509 plate appearances last year. But the speedy, scrappy, dirt-collecting, high-sock-wearing, contact-making utility man has delivered an intangible asset to the Red Sox, one they even have a hard time putting a finger on.
“Usually he’s involved in a play where it’s going to be meaningful,” manager John Farrell said. With Holt in the starting lineup, the Red Sox are 249. Without him as a starter, the Sox are 21-28.
“To be a contributor on the field whenever we’re playing, that’s all I’m trying to do and it’s worked out so far,” Holt said.
As for the concussion, Holt suffered whiplash May 9 while playing second base and diving for a ball up the middle.
The Red Sox thought he had a neck injury. Holt was in the training room daily as the massage therapist tried to press the soreness out. The soreness finally went away, but the dizziness, tiredness and headaches failed to subside. He was 2-for-24 over a nine-game span when the Sox finally realized Holt had suffered a concussion.
Several weeks and several visits to a concussion specialist later, Holt was finally able to step back onto a baseball field. The symptoms were still there, but Holt was instructed to push on. Sometimes he would catch a fly ball and his eyes would then start to lose focus — and hitting was supposed to be even more difficult.
Holt pressed on. He hit .320 in eight rehab games with Triple-A Pawtucket.
The Sox waited for him to tell them then he was ready.
Last Friday, he returned to the big league lineup to go 2-for-4 with two doubles against the Los Angeles Angels. After that game, the Red Sox public-relations professionals asked that no video camera lights be on during an interview to keep the strain off Holt’s eyes.
On the recommendation of the team’s medical staff, Holt took Saturday off. Now, he has played on back-to-back days.
“I can’t say that I’m completely surprised,” Farrell said. “But given what he’s had to go through, you don’t know how fast those symptoms may diminish. His timing at the plate has been pretty spot on and he showed that in some atbats in Pawtucket before coming back to us. He’s a heady player. He’s done a great job in left field and the accuracy to his throws, you can’t say enough about that.”
It was a long wait, but the Red Sox finally have Holt back.
“It’s tough to have a concussion of that nature, but he’s a scrappy guy,” Betts said. “He doesn’t want to anybody to feel sorry for him. He’s going to go out and say, ‘I’ll be back and I’ll be ready to go when I get back.’ Now he’s back and he’s just falling right into place.”