Red Sox’s Reese McGuire Taking Unusual Approach With Bat

If you’ve ever played organized baseball, you’ve heard it.

“Stop trying to pull the ball!”

Those words probably have been yelled by every little league, high school, travel ball and college coach in America. It’s something that most players struggle with, always wanting to turn on pitches and launch them as far as possible. That’s why “going the other way” is the main piece of advice hitters receive as they grow up.

Boston Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire is not one of those players, however.

McGuire’s always had a knack for shooting the ball to the opposite field. He knows that it’s not conducive for doing damage, though, and sitting toward the bottom of the order he finds himself with opportunities to drive runners in. That’s why he spent part of the offseason working on something that comes naturally to most hitters.

“It was adjusting a little bit of my intent to pull the ball as well as go the other way,” McGuire said Wednesday, per Christopher Smith of MassLive. “In the past, I think I was always looking for ways to hit the ball to the opposite field. And this year, I’ve practiced and worked on hitting the balls in the air to right — and what contact point that is on certain pitches. So just kind of expanding the baseball field of where I’m looking to hit the ball.”

It’s been a pretty solid start for McGuire, too. He’s 5-for-15 with a double, RBI, run, walk and four strikeouts. He’s been perfectly fine at the plate, allowing Red Sox manager Alex Cora to stick to his catching rotation and take some of the load off Connor Wong.

“I feel like my swing is at its best when I’m able to hit that low line drive to the opposite field,” McGuire said. “I’m trying to look to do a little bit more damage on pitches that are closer to me. I think that’s been a difference for me. Just the approach.”

The Red Sox will take whatever they can get out of the nine-hole, but a bit more damage out of McGuire certainly isn’t a bad thing.