Hopefully you like Tuesday’s Boston Red Sox lineup, because you’ll probably be seeing a lot of it this season.
The Red Sox will continue their Grapefruit League play with a meeting against the St. Louis Cardinals at JetBlue Park. Save for the second baseman and starting pitcher, there’s a good chance this will be the Sox’s starting lineup when they begin their season March 26 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Andrew Benintendi will be the Sox’s leadoff hitter, followed by Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts. Newcomer Kevin Pillar will play right field and hit sixth.
Rule 5 draft selection Jonathan Arauz will be in the lineup, playing second base and hitting ninth. In all likelihood, it’ll be either Michael Chavis or Jose Peraza playing second during the regular season, and depending on who it is, the batting order could be shaken up a bit. While it’s easy to see Peraza hitting eighth or ninth, that seems less likely for Chavis.
It’s worth noting that while Arauz very well might make the major league roster out of camp because he’s a Rule 5 selection, he likely will not be starting on Opening Day.
Brian Johnson will be on the mound for the Red Sox. Though he was removed from the 40-man roster during the offseason, he’s made a nice case for himself as a non-roster invitee during spring training to break camp with the big club.
Here are the lineups for Cardinals vs. Red Sox.
BOSTON RED SOX
Andrew Benintendi, LF
Rafael Devers, 3B
J.D. Martinez, DH
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Mitch Moreland, 1B
Kevin Pillar, RF
Christian Vazquez, C
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
Jonathan Arauz, 2B
Brian Johnson, LHP
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Tommy Edman, 2B
Paul DeJong, SS
Tyler O’Neill, LF
Matt Wieters, C
Rangel Ravelo, 1B
Brad Miller, 3B
Harrison Bader, CF
Andrew Knizner, DH
Dylan Carlson, RF
Jack Flaherty, RHP
