Xander Bogaerts certainly is having a successful season at the plate.
The Boston Red Sox shortstop is batting .284 with 16 home runs and 64 RBIs, one season removed from a 10-homer and 62-RBIs campaign.
Three of Bogaerts’ home runs are grand slams, something only Babe Ruth (1919), Dick Stuart (1964) and Manny Ramirez (2005) had accomplished before the end of July.
It’s not every day, or season for that matter, we see a shortstop who possesses the type of power Bogaerts has, and Red Sox hitting coach Tim Hyers knows the team has something special in their player.
“He’s a big force in our lineup, we depend on him,” Hyers said, via The Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato. “And that’s not easy to do, play in a premium position at shortstop and a guy we depend on offensively.”
After hitting a combined 38 home runs over the course of the past three seasons, Sox skipper Alex Cora said the 25-year-old is doing more damage at the plate than he’s done in the previous three campaigns.
“We know that Xander can hit .300. He can go the other way whenever he feels like it, but now he’s trying to do damage,” Cora told Mastrodonato. “That’s the most important thing. We talk about it, man, .285, 30 and 100, we’ll take that instead of .300 with 12 and whatever RBI. The RBI don’t matter, but damage. He’s doing damage.”
It’s hard to argue with Cora, and a lot of damage has been done when Bogaerts is facing a strikeout. Mastrodonato points out that 18 of Bogaerts’ 26 doubles on the season have come with two strikes in the count, while his 24 extra-base hits have been on a two-strike count.
So, what’s the shortstop’s secret?
“With two strikes he’s one of our most fierce competitors at the plate,” Hyers said. “He does not give in with two strikes. He has so many big hits going opposite field and just putting the ball in play, making something happen for us with two strikes.”
There’s no telling what Bogaerts will do once the second half of the Major League Baseball season resumes Friday for Boston, but if he continues to be aggressive with two strikes and not “give in,” we’re almost certain we’ll continue to see the dominance portrayed through the first 98 games.
