The Red Sox had a forgettable 2020 season, and Hunter Renfroe is expecting better things from Boston in 2021.
Boston finished the shortened Major League Baseball campaign 24-36 and missed the postseason for the second straight year.
But Renfroe, who signed a one-year deal with the team Monday, believes the Red Sox will be playing with "a chip on their shoulder."
"I’m very confident they are going to bounce back," he told reporters Monday. Basically their whole team struggled (in 2020). It was unprecedented that literally their whole starting lineup had the worst years of their career. That’s what it was going to take for them to be in last place and that’s what happened. It’s no dilemma that they’re going to be better next year. They have no other choice. They’re not going to have their worst years again. J.D. (Martinez), to do what he did, no one has ever seen him play like that before. Everybody knows how good J.D. is and how well he swings the bat. (Andrew) Benintendi as well. Obviously he was dealing with some injury stuff. And I think there’s going to be a lot of guys who bounce back and have a little chip on their shoulder to do really well."
Renfroe certainly makes valid points.
Martinez, who struggled mightily at the plate in 2020, often said how not being in the video room impacted what he does at the plate. With what should be a normal offseason and spring training, and being able to hopefully have more access to the video room come 2021, Martinez should be able to produce better numbers.
Benintendi, meanwhile, should be fully recovered from a rib injury that cut his 2020 season short. The left fielder also struggled at the dish before suffering the ailment.
But with Alex Cora back in the fold, Eduardo Rodriguez expected to have a normal spring training and the eventual return of Chris Sale, it's safe to expect the Red Sox to have a better 2021 than 2020.
