MLB analyst reveals key choice Red Sox must make to succeed in the postseason originally appeared on The Sporting News
There is a week left in the season, and the Boston Red Sox are holding onto the last Wild Card slot by a thread.
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Let’s say they make the postseason; they’re still going to need to address a lot of things. According to Fansided’s Zachary Rotman, Alex Bregman’s position in the batting order is at the top of the list.
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“It feels insane that I’m even asking this question, but how can I not? Alex Bregman looked like the perfect fit in Boston for the first three or four months of the season, but he’s gone ice-cold at the worst possible time. Even after hitting a home run and drawing a pair of walks on Friday night, Bregman is slashing .200/.288/.338 with two home runs and seven RBI in September, and he is hitting .162 with a .503 OPS in his last 25 games,” Rotman wrote.
At one point, Bregman was one of the best hitters on the team, on track for 30+ homers and an average of .300. Now, he’s slashing .275/.359/.470/.829 and has 18 homers.
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Rotman continued, writing that Bregman deserves to play every game of the postseason, but maybe not at the top of the lineup.
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“We all know Bregman will, and should, play every single postseason game, but should he continue to hit second or third as he’s done exclusively this season? Admittedly, Roman Anthony being out makes it harder to move Bregman away from the top of the order, and it’s not as if anyone on the team has done much to threaten Bregman’s place in the lineup, but his production just isn’t close to worthy of a guy who should be hitting high up in the order,” Rotman concluded.
Hopefully Bregman gets hot in this final week, so he can ride it into the postseason and not have this over his head.
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