Boston Red Sox: Deven Marrero earning more work at third base

The Boston Red Sox have struggled at third base this season, but Deven Marrero is attempting to turn that around.

Without Pablo Sandoval, Marco Hernandez, and Brock Holt, the Boston Red Sox have had to rely on Deven Marrero and Josh Rutledge just to have a body at third base.

Now that Rutledge is filling in for an injured Dustin Pedroia at second base, Marrero is getting a chance to prove he can lock down the hot corner.

Sandoval’s activation before yesterday’s game against the Chicago White Sox may have lit a spark under Marrero, who delivered the best offensive game of his career.

The 26-year-old infielder hit two home runs and drove in five runs against White Sox pitching to bring his season totals to three homers and eleven runs batted in.

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Both of those are career highs and Marrero will likely pass his career high in games played in a season later this week. He has already appeared in 22 contests, with his most appearances coming in 2015 when he played 25 games.

Marrero is only hitting .194 with 22 strikeouts this season, but he has been warming up at the plate lately after providing most of his value on defense. A week ago, Marrero was hitting only .154, but a short hitting streak brought that up forty points.

A natural shortstop, Deven Marrero has made no errors in 155 innings at third base this season, which is all the Red Sox could ask of him after the team’s defensive struggles earlier in the year. Any offense from Marrero should be considered a bonus.

Even in the minor leagues, Marrero was never known for his bat. He has never hit more than six home runs in a season and rarely hit above .260, but his sound fundamentals and strong arm kept him on the Red Sox prospect radar.

Marrero has excellent range, which is one advantage he has over Sandoval as the two will continue to battle for playing time going forward. If the performance at the plate is similar, it seems likely that Marrero will continue to get more at bats.

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Thus far, he has proven to be more reliable overall than Sandoval has during his entire tenure with Boston and Marrero deserves the starting job if he can turn last night’s power showcase into a hot streak.

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