Who Is Red Sox’s Version Of Shohei Ohtani? Alex Cora’s Answer May Surprise You

The Boston Red Sox are headed south for the second series of their West Coast road trip, as Los Angeles is their next stop.

And as the team prepares to face the Angels, that means getting ready for Shohei Ohtani, who on Sunday was confirmed a two-way All-Star for the first time in Major League Baseball history.

“Yeah, he’s amazing,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters over Zoom on Sunday. “He’s amazing. We were talking about it the other day, me and Raffy we were like the fact that he has to prepare to hit, right? And everything that goes into that, you know watch video, working on mechanics, the weight room, all this stuff. And also the fact that he has to prepare to start every five or six days, I can’t even imagine what the routine is and the mental grind. So it’s fun to watch from afar.”

Ohtani is quite the unicorn, and it’s to be determined if we’ll see anything like him again because we’ve never seen anything like him before.

According to Cora, the closest thing Boston boasts to that is… Bobby Dalbec?

“Dalbec,” Cora said. “Dalbec can pitch. Bobby, I still believe, he can pitch. I said it on national TV and he’s making me look bad but I still believe Bobby can go out there with preparation and be be a good pitcher.”

Dalbec did pitch in college with the Arizona Wildcats, and Cora would know if he were good or not. Ironically, years before he’d become his manager, Cora was working for ESPN calling one of Dalbec’s starts of the College World Series.

The 26-year-old was adamant on entering the league as a hitter and position player, though.