The Boston Red Sox are poised to feature one of the most potent offensive lineups in all of baseball this season.
ESPN, however, does have one concern about Boston’s bats.
Major League Baseball writer Bradford Doolittle highlighted said potential issue in a column published Monday. Doolittle is a bit wary about the Red Sox potentially selling out for power in the batter’s box, which obviously would be a detriment to their offense.
“Here’s a question you rarely associate with the Red Sox, but is it possible they have too many aggressive swingers in their lineup?” Doolittle wrote. “If you roll up Steamer’s individual player forecasts, the Red Sox rank seventh in park-neutral average, slugging and OPS, but just 13th in on-base percentage. There are likely bigger potential headaches in Boston, such as right-field production and the innings total of the rotation. Still, if Boston’s offense disappoints, this might be the reason.”
Doolittle probably is nitpicking here, as the Red Sox as a team posted the seventh-highest OBP in all of baseball last season. Boston didn’t make wholesale changes to its lineup over the offseason, so there’s really no reason to believe Alex Cora’s club will struggle with putting men on the bags in 2022.
The Sox will look to set the tone for their offense Thursday afternoon when they open their regular-season slate on the road against the New York Yankees.
