Jackie Bradley Jr. has come a long, long way from where he was at the beginning of August.
The Boston Red Sox outfielder hit a season-low batting average on Aug. 5, when he dropped to .102 after going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in a game against the New York Yankees. But just a month later, Bradley seems to be a whole new player.
The 25-year-old still is making the incredible outfield plays the team has come to expect from him, but after batting .354 in August, Bradley now has a respectable .287 average on the season and has hit five home runs with 22 runs and 22 RBIs since Aug. 5. However, Red Sox hitting coach Chili Davis isn’t surprised.
“You know what I think, truly?” Davis told CSNNE’s Jessica Moran before Tuesday’s game against the Yankees at Fenway Park. “That’s Jackie. It’s not amazing to me, it’s not surprising to me. I just think that that’s him. … I just see a kid now that, I think that at one point Jackie might have counted himself out of being a part of the Red Sox organization. I think he’s counting himself in now. I think he knows what he can do, and he’s doing it.”
So it seems as though Bradley has just regained some confidence he had all along. Davis thinks it’s a little more than that, though.
“He’s gone back to the way he hit before naturally, and it’s working for him,” Davis told Moran. “And that’s helped him to gain his confidence. Now he’s starting to feel sexy at the plate, you know what I mean? And when you feel sexy at the plate, it’s a good thing. It can be dangerous because then you think you could hit everything. But he’s managed that as well.”
Sure, Chili. We know exactly what you mean.
Thumbnail photo via Rick Osentoski/USA TODAY Sports Images
