Those who love watching home runs certainly have enjoyed the Red Sox this spring, and Boston’s offense has showed manager Alex Cora how much potential the group has at the plate.
The Red Sox currently lead the Grapefruit League in home runs, for what it’s worth. Bobby Dalbec and Michael Chavis not only are tied for a team-best, but a league-best six homers each. And then there’s Christian Arroyo and Rafael Devers, who each have three, along with Jarren Durran, Marwin Gonzalez and Hunter Renfroe with two apiece.
“That’s who we are and that’s what we’re going to do,” Cora said on a video conference with reporters Tuesday afternoon, “but I believe we can do more than just hitting home runs.”
The Red Sox took a 5-0 lead over the Atlanta Braves in Grapefruit League action Tuesday after Xander Bogaerts belted a three-run blast in the third inning. It was Bogaerts’ first of the spring having played just eight games (19 at-bats) before Tuesday’s 7-6 win.
“At the same time, I know we’re leading Florida in home runs, but we’re second in on-base percentage, OPS, all the other stuff that matters, we’re on top. And we’re not striking out that much, which is very important. We can put the ball in play,” Cora said. “… From top to bottom we do believe that we can put together competitive at-bats and we can score in different ways.”
Dalbec, specifically, has a few moonshots this spring with a pair of grand slams. The 26-year-old slugger will make Boston’s lineup all the more dangerous if he can keep that up, along with his .333 batting average and .889 slugging percentage in 15 games.
Hopefully, Boston will be able to keep it going when they return to Fenway Park when it really matters. The Red Sox, who are 12-8 this spring, will kick off the regular season April 1 against the Baltimore Orioles.
