Yaz a Giant name at Fenway
SF outfielder follows legendary grandfather
The Baltimore Orioles are going to regret this one.
Mike Yastrzemski will make his Fenway Park debut tonight as a member of the San Francisco Giants, with whom he’s hit .265 with an .833 OPS and 19 home runs in just 96 games since being called up earlier this year.
RED SOX NOTEBOOK
He previously had played against the Red Sox only in spring training games, when he still was a member of the Orioles, who drafted him in the 14th round out of Vanderbilt in 2013. After he never posted an OPS higher than .832 in any full minor league season, the O’s gave up on the 29-year-old and sent him to the Giants this year for 27-year-old minor league starter Tyler Herb, who has a 5.82 ERA in the minors since the trade.
“I saw him in spring training and he’s a good player, good swing,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “People are excited he’s going to be there. He’s having a good season. … The narrative with the kid is good. He had a good spring training, too. Took some good swings against us a few times.
“Very surprised with the moves that happened, but it worked out for him and he’s done an outstanding job for the Giants.”
Cora never has had an extended conversation with Yastrzemski’s grandfather, Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski, but has talked to him a few times when the Hall of Famer shows up in spring training.
“I know it’s going to be a special three days for their family and hopefully they can enjoy him watching him play defense and he doesn’t do too much offensively against us,” Cora said.
Mike Yastrzemski has been playing mostly corner outfield for the Giants (Carl, a seventime Gold Glover, played mostly left field at Fenway) but made his first start in center field over the weekend.
Giants manager Bruce
Bochy told reporters in San Francisco that he would start the younger Yaz in all three games at Fenway this week.
Mike Yastrzemski told the San Francisco Chronicle he expects his grandfather to be in attendance for at least one of the games, but noted it was his late father, Carl
Michael Yastrzemski Jr., who had a bigger impact on Mike’s development as a player, though the father died of a heart attack at 43 when Mike was 14.
“He was a better teacher than my grandfather,” Mike Yastrzemski told the Chronicle. “I actually learned that from my grandfather more than anyone. He would say that to me even when my dad was alive. If I worked with my grandfather, he’d say, ‘Don’t listen to me. Listen to your dad. He knows better than I do,’ which I think speaks volumes as a Hall of Famer saying that about someone.”
Down Benintendi
Andrew Benintendi’s disappointing season has led Cora to believe the fourth-year big leaguer will have a bounce-back season in 2020.
Benintendi is hitting just .272 with a .793 OPS and a whopping 135 strikeouts in 514 at-bats. That number is up from 106 strikeouts in 579 at-bats last year.
“This kid striking out 130 times, that’s not normal,” Cora said Sunday.
The Red Sox struck out just 1,253 times last year but already have struck out 1,252 times this year with two weeks still to play.
Benintendi was hurt earlier in the year after fouling two balls off his foot in Baltimore and that messed up his mechanics, Cora said. He needs to clean up his approach ahead of 2020.
Dubon returns
Yastrzemski isn’t the only Giants tie to the Red Sox. Former Red Sox prospect
Mauricio Dubon, who was dealt to the Brewers in the
Travis Shaw trade before he was sent to the Giants midseason this year for Drew
Pomeranz, is hitting .302 with an .874 OPS in 16 games with the Giants since his call-up.
Cora also is looking forward to seeing Bochy, a surefire Hall of Famer who will be retiring after this season.