Baseball is so loopy! At first of the season, Sox followers had been hoping a trio of rookies might inject some life into the torpid lineup. Particularly, Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony. Nicely, to this point they’re 1-3 in that division with Campbell again down in Worcester (the place he’s slowly recovering), Mayer finished for the 12 months with wrist surgical procedure, and Anthony turning into an integral a part of the on a regular basis lineup.
Nevertheless, we nonetheless may find yourself with a situation the place three rookies find yourself making a huge effect on the lineup earlier than the season ends. One has already finished so in Carlos Narvaez (are you able to think about how screwed the Sox would have been on the catcher place this 12 months if he didn’t step up?), however one other is rising down in Worcester.
Jhostynxon Garcia (or The Password, as he’s turning into identified in most circles), he been a delight to trace this season. He began the 12 months as a straightforward to miss outfield bat (did the Crimson Sox actually need one other a kind of?). Then he grew to become potential commerce bait earlier than the entrance workplace fiasco on the deadline, and now he’s quietly turning into an choice which may make an affect down the stretch.
He’s at the moment batting .308 with a .372 OBP and a .945 OPS as a 22-year-old down in Worcester, and he’s been significantly scorching in the course of the month of August to this point, posting a 1.114 OPS. Nevertheless, when trying underneath the hood, they’re could be one thing to get much more enthusiastic about.
Right here’s his OPS towards righties every of the final two seasons (spanning a number of minor league ranges):
Right here’s what it seems like towards lefties:
Whoa! I feel Rob Refsnyder and Romy Gonzalez may need a brand new pal.
Digging even deeper, the numbers solely get extra attention-grabbing. Towards righties, Garcia has 784 plate appearances over this time interval. Towards lefties? it’s simply 104. That’s virtually an eight to at least one ratio.
See, a bizarre factor occurs within the higher minors with left handed pitchers. They’re rocketed by way of the system as a result of everyone wants an additional exhausting throwing southpaw of their bullpen to get the platoon benefit when a left handed hitter comes up in a giant spot late within the sport.
The result’s guys sometimes simply don’t face as many left-handed pitchers within the final 12 months or two earlier than they crack the majors, and this will play out in a pair other ways. For any individual like Marcelo Mayer, it made his growth tougher as a result of he needed to learn to face main league lefties on the fly in restricted plate appearances. It’s one thing he’ll proceed to battle when he comes again subsequent 12 months.
However on the flip facet, this phenomenon may underrate lefty killers as a result of their total numbers are an under-representative break up of what they are going to face within the main leagues. For this reason Romy Gonzalez, as an illustration, has a .786 OPS in a 156 profession video games with the Crimson Sox after posting an .804 profession OPS within the minor leagues.
So at this level, with the underside 20 % of the Crimson Sox roster being its largest anchor and largest impediment to beat down the stretch, at what level can we begin questioning which gamers Garcia might displace within the lineup? Assuming Abraham Toro is gone quickly with the addition of Nathaniel Lowe and Rob Refsnyder’s (hopefully) brief stint on the IL, the following man on the recent seat would logically be Masataka Yoshida. If he doesn’t begin hitting by the top of the month (so, this highway journey), the Crimson Sox have to start out utilizing his DH at-bats for his or her extra outfielders.
The Yoshida logjam has already created an issue that’s pushed Ceddanne Rafaela off his perch as the very best defensive centerfielder within the league, and there’s actually no method round the truth that Yoshida’s presence within the lineup has finished extra hurt than good. If we get to some extent in September the place Sox have Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, Jarren Duran, Rob Refsnyder and now Jhostynxon Garcia all combating for outfield at-bats, Yoshida has to get displaced. (The truth that they began Garcia for a sport at first base the opposite day reveals rather a lot about how huge of a logjam that is turning into.)
However let’s think about a world that includes these six outfielders becoming into 4 spots (three within the outfield and the DH). Anthony ought to play on a regular basis as a result of he’s superior, and Rafaela ought to be in centerfield on a regular basis as a result of he’s the very best within the American league at that place, however past that issues get mighty attention-grabbing.
Taking the other perspective, which of these six guys least deserves to be within the lineup a left-handed beginning pitcher? Surely, the reply is Jarren Duran. He’s batting simply .207 with a .587 OPS towards lefties this season, and his profession numbers aren’t significantly better at a .232 batting common and .617 OPS. So when Garcia comes up, I feel they Sox are going to wish to have a dialog with Duran about his taking part in time when the face a left-handed starter. He merely shouldn’t be in there on these days.
Oh, and right here’s the place it’s going to get much more awkward. If the Crimson Sox find yourself within the Wild Card spherical, there’s an honest likelihood they face both the Yankees or the Astros, each of which might be throwing not less than one, and probably two left handed starters in that fast better of three collection. In different phrases, the lineups the Crimson Sox use towards Max Fried and Carlos Rodon this weekend in New York won’t be the lineups they use towards these guys in the event that they face them in October.
If all of it goes proper, Garcia might develop into the third rookie making a huge effect on the Crimson Sox season down the stretch, and the third man who simply demolishes lefties in a lineup in among the most vital video games of the 12 months. If the entrance workplace does their job, seats on this roster are about to get scorching because the climate cools off.
