Amid Dip In Playing Time, Christian Arroyo Quietly Worked For Postseason Breakout

When Boston Red Sox infielder Christian Arroyo rejoined the team following a stint on the COVID-19 related injured list that lasted nearly a month, he found that every player’s nightmare had come true for him.

An everyday player when he was healthy in April and June, Arroyo returned to the Red Sox after several weeks to find that his role had been filled with team’s acquisition of José Iglesias. Sure, there were only a few weeks left in the regular season, given that he was activated from the injured list at the end of September. But Arroyo — who slotted back into a regular role after each of his lengthy absences during the season — appeared in just four games since he was activated, starting only one.

Rather than pity himself, Arroyo accepted his new role. While Iglesias was on fire at the end of the regular season — which kept Arroyo on the bench — the veteran would be ineligible for the postseason, meaning Arroyo would be expected to slot back in.

And he’s fit right back in to the Red Sox lineup through October. Arroyo has started every postseason game for the Red Sox and is hitting .269 through 26 at-bats. He’s played incredibly clean defense, with eight putouts, 15 assists and no errors from second base.

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A steady return hardly is surprising for the 26-year-old.

“I think it’s about coming back to the roots, I guess, of what you were doing and trying to find that feeling in the box of just trusting all the work that you have put in over the course of the season,” Arroyo told reporters Monday. “Obviously, at the end of the season (Iglesias) was playing phenomenal for us, and we needed to win to get into the postseason. I understood the situation, but I knew that if we made it and when we made it that Iggy wasn’t going to be able to play with us, and that I had the conversation with (manager Alex Cora), and he told me, ‘Hey, you’re going to be playing in the postseason. I just need you to be ready.’ I made a vow to him that I would be ready.”

Arroyo, in his fourth season in the majors, put up career numbers through 57 games with the Red Sox — and that was in a campaign marred a hand injury, a bone bruise and hamstring injury in addition to his positive COVID-19 test — all of which forced him to miss a total of 84 games.

He certainly is making up for it now.