Always Something: Red Sox’s Next Area Of Improvement Clear

The Boston Red Sox took a ton of flak for their defense throughout the early portion of the Major League Baseball season.

In fact, the criticism was well deserved, as Alex Cora's squad ranks 30th in MLB in errors committed per game (0.68). Kiké Hernández (15) and Rafael Devers (11) are among the leaders in individual errors committed this season, as of July 23, while Boston has allowed 38 unearned runs to cross home plate.

The Red Sox have done work to fix their defensive woes, however. Cora put a plan in place to optimize defensive positioning while having his team put in the extra work to improve their fundamentals.

It might be time to put some work in on a different fundamental, however.

The runnin' Red Sox had a rough night Sunday, making four outs on the bases in their win over the New York Mets.

Jarren Duran got things started in the first inning, being thrown out at home after a rough send on an error by Red Sox third base coach Carlos Febles. Rafael Devers was then caught sleeping at third base in the third inning, rounding aggressively and failing to make it back to third in time to beat a throw. Triston Casas got in on the action in the fifth, trying to stretch a Fenway Park single into a double before Duran capped things off getting picked off in the sixth.

That isn't to say it was all bad. Justin Turner beat a nice throw at second to steal a double, while Adam Duvall, Connor Wong and Yu Chang all stole bases.

In fact, the Red Sox have been great on the bases all year. Boston has only made 25 outs on the bases, tied for seventh-fewest in MLB. It's just probably not a good idea to start making those mistakes as you hope to buy at the Aug. 1 trade deadline and are in the middle of the American League Wild Card race.

Duran and Casas being at the forefront of those mistakes is also an issue for them personally, as budding stars aren't going to get a pass from Cora after making avoidable mistakes. We saw it with Devers in 2018, Brayan Bello last season and Alex Verdugo earlier this season. Yes, Casas is mashing the baseball and Duran is one of the most electrifying runners in baseball, but they're not exempt from discipline.

It won't become a problem until it costs them, but the Red Sox certainly have some work to do when it comes to decision making on the diamond.