Boston Red Sox suddenly have a top tier outfield trio
The Boston Red Sox are two games above .500 right now and their outfield is a main part of that.
Alex Verdugo, Masataka Yoshida, and Jarren Duran are some of the top performers on the Sox right now and we’re lucky enough to see them play every night.
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Let’s start with the hottest of the trio, Alex Verdugo.
Coming into the season, it was clear that Dugie had a chip on his shoulder. He came in looking lean and played with more explosion than he had all of last season. The more the seasons gone on, the better Verdugo has gotten.
On the season as a whole, Dugie is batting .311 with an .881 OPS. In his last seven games, he’s batting .281 with two home runs, seven RBI, and two big walkout hits.
Where he has made his biggest jump, however, is defensively. Last season, Verdugo was in the 13th percentile in outs above average and 42nd percentile in outfielder jump. Because of his different approach to the offseason, he’s now in the 91st percentile in outs above average and 87th percentile in outfielder jump.
The next outfielder who has been impressive so far this season is the Boston Red Sox big free agent signing, Masataka Yoshdia. The Olympic and World Baseball Classic gold winner had a slow start to the season, batting .189 up until the series in Milwaukee where he really found his stride.
Since the beginning of the series against the Milwaukee Brewers, Yoshida is batting .421 with an OPS of 1.228 (!!!!) belting three home runs, four doubles, nine RBI and drawing four walks.
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Coming into this season, there was a lot of speculation on of the batting champion from Japan could could translate his play to the MLB. So far, so good for Masa.
Last, but certainly not least, Jarren Duran.
Before he went on his tear this season, he was known for his blunder in centerfield last year where now teammate Ramie Tapia hit an inside the park grand slam in a Toronto blowout win at Fenway.
With multiple players departing from last years team and Duran bulking up in the offseason, he seems to have figured it all out.
Next. Boston Red Sox are stuck between a rock and a hard place. dark
There have been 16 balls hit of at least 100 mph by the young centerfielder, and 53 percent of the balls Duran have hit have been classified as “hard hit” balls (95+ mph), landing him in the 83rd percentile in hard hit balls.
Much like Verdugo, defensively is where Duran is really picking up his game. 84th percentile in outs above average for Duran which can be thanked due to his quickness and flash like speed.
With the outfielders playing like this, it’s going to be interesting when Adam Duvall comes back and see how the Boston Red Sox fit him into this lineup.