BOSTON — Mike Napoli crossed below the Mendoza Line. And he did so sporting a golden sombrero.
Napoli struck out four times Tuesday in the Boston Red Sox’s 6-4 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park. The veteran first baseman is hitting .199 following his 0-for-4 effort, which came after Red Sox manager John Farrell dropped him to eighth in the order for the first time in Napoli’s three seasons with Boston.
“It was a rough night for Mike,” Farrell said after Tuesday’s loss. “Some swing and miss there where he’s had some success against (Orioles starter Ubaldo) Jimenez coming into (Tuesday’s) game against him. Mike’s working through, searching to gain any kind of consistency. Right now, a tough night (Tuesday).”
Napoli is 0-for-12 with five strikeouts over his last three games. He’s hitting .179 (12-for-67) with 23 strikeouts to just four walks this month, creating questions about whether he’ll ever be able to find some consistency at the plate this season and whether Major League Baseball’s expanding strike zone is negatively affecting him more than any player in the game.
Napoli looked like he had it all figured out last month when he earned American League Player of the Week honors following a monster series against the Los Angeles Angels. He hit .429 (9-for-21) with five homers and 10 RBIs in six games from May 17 through May 24. The 33-year-old is hitting just .179 (36-for-201) with five homers and 19 RBIs outside of that week, however, making it reasonable to wonder whether the breakout was nothing more than an aberration. Are Napoli’s best days behind him?
“I think my better years I’ve been able to minimize some of the times when I’ve been struggling. I kind of got into a little bit of a hole early in the year,” Napoli told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford before Tuesday’s game. “I’m not trying to hit .270 in one day. I understand that. Just keep grinding, keep going.
“I think my best year, when I hit .320, if you want to look it up, I was hitting like .200 going into the All-Star break. I know the feeling. I’ve been there before. I have the confidence that I’ll come out of it.”
Napoli hit .220 as late as July 5 while with the Texas Rangers in 2012. He hit .382 the rest of the season and finished the year with a .320 average, 30 homers and 75 RBIs.
It would be foolish to expect a similar turnaround three years later. Father Time, for one, might not allow it, at least to that extent. But the fact Napoli has been there and done that suggests it’d be equally as foolish to write him off completely with 90 games remaining on the schedule. He’s certainly not throwing in the towel.
“I’m going to start hitting,” Napoli told Bradford before his four-K effort in Tuesday’s series opener. “I’ve got confidence in that. I’m going to do anything I can to get going.”
The first step toward bouncing back involves throwing away the golden sombrero and traveling back north of the Mendoza Line. Easier said than done, of course.
Thumbnail photo via Brad Rempel/USA TODAY Sports Images
