Jackie Bradley Jr. wowed Dave Dombrowski with an amazing catch during the new Boston Red Sox president of baseball operations’ first night on the job at Fenway Park earlier this week.
It wasn’t the first time Bradley caught Dombrowski’s attention.
Dombrowski discussed several topics Friday on MLB Network’s “The Rundown.” When asked about Bradley, Dombrowski revealed he actually tried to trade for the outfielder last offseason while serving as president and general manager of the Detroit Tigers.
“First of all, everyone knows he’s an outstanding defensive center fielder. He’s a Gold Glove-type of center fielder,” Dombrowski said. “When I was back with the Tigers, we actually tried to trade for him this wintertime when we were talking about he and, of course, Anthony Gose at the time, who’s done a great job for (Detroit).
“The guy’s an outstanding defensive player and he’s always had the ability to hit at the minor league level. But you can see that he’s made the adjustment with his swing right now with his swing path. Hopefully he can keep it up. But if he’s in a spot where he continues to swing the bat well, you’re talking about a guy that can be a real good major league player for a lot of years. And I think the defense he gives you in center field basically goes unmatched in the game.”
Dombrowski included Bradley when mentioning the Red Sox’s good core of young players during his introductory press conference. It’s clear the longtime Major League Baseball executive is excited about a lot of the pieces the Red Sox have in place and is eager to build a sustainable winning team in Boston.
Thumbnail photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
