Getting Masataka Yoshida and Alex Bregman back in the Red Sox lineup could take a scorching offense to another level, especially when it comes to hitting fastballs.
“We’re gonna get better,” manager Alex Cora noted Monday. “Masa, he catches up with it. Alex, he catches up with it. This is a different group than three weeks ago.”
But even now, the lineup is doing better in that regard, their manager noted Monday.
“We’re not striking out, right? So I think that’s the telling story,” he said. “We’re putting the ball in play. We still have some holes, like everybody else, but I think we’re not striking out as much as we were three weeks ago.”
Cora highlighted the shift to a more individualistic approach to hitters meetings, the results of which are that the Red Sox entered Monday having outscored opponents 67-32 over their last eight games. They lead the American League in hits and doubles, rank second in extra-base hits, total bases, slugging percentage, and OPS, and are a top-six team in triples, home runs, walks, runs, batting average, and on-base percentage.
“As far as the preparation, it’s more one-on-one than the whole group thing, and I think it’s working,” he said, explaining that pitchers will have a different approach for each batter. “They’re gonna pitch Ceddanne (Rafaela) differently than… Romy (Gonzalez), right? They will do that, so recognizing what they’re gonna do against that particular guy and just, ‘This is what you’re going to get. You’re not getting this one, you’re getting this fastball. So let’s work on it, let’s cover it, and if you do that, you’re gonna be successful.’”
However, there’s another, quite significant difference between the Red Sox of July and the Red Sox of three weeks ago.
“Different personnel,” Cora said. “Let’s be honest, you know, that’s part of this.”
The reference to Rafael Devers, whom the Red Sox dealt to the San Francisco Giants three weeks ago Sunday, was clear. The longtime Sox slugger has been known to get beat by fastballs, and struggled to catch up to them early this season. As a result, pitchers have thrown him fastballs 65.9% of the time this season. He has a 26% K rate on four-seamers, 27.8% on split-fingers, and 16.2% on cutters. Overall, he’s in the 29th MLB percentile in K%.
In 73 games with Devers this year, the Red Sox averaged 9.24 strikeouts and 4.83 runs per game. Entering Monday, they’ve averaged 8.7 strikeouts and 5.27 runs per game since the trade.
“The guys that we have now, they put the ball in play, and in those situations they catch up with the fastball, against lefties and against righties,” Cora said. “We’ve just gotten better.”
