The Boston Red Sox wouldn't have signed Kiké Hernández this offseason unless they had everybody that needed to be on board actually on board.
But it was one member of the organization, in particular, who was adamant the Red Sox sign the utilityman: Greg Rybarczyk, the Red Sox director of education and process analysis.
“Greg Rybarczyk in our office pounded the table for Kiké,” Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said in a story published Sunday morning by MassLive.
It wasn't just Rybarczyk, either. Director of baseball analytics Joe McDonald and director of professional scouting Harrison Slutsky also were insistent that the Red Sox sign Hernández. Seeing as he never had been an everyday player, that move was something of a gamble at the time. However, he proved this season that he could shoulder a regular workload.
Of course, he has made that trio even further look like geniuses with his monster postseason play thus far, which has his teammates likening him to Babe Ruth.
