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The Boston Red Sox have been having a rocky September, as they are missing out on the bat of Roman Anthony, who went down with an oblique strain earlier this month. Now, the Sox are 4-6, and have one of the hardest schedules left in baseball.
The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier did a deep dive into the Sox’ offense since Anthony’s initial absence, and it’s not looking good at all for the Sox.
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“While they’ve averaged 4.1 runs per game since Anthony landed on the IL (19th in baseball from Sept. 3-14), they’ve been more susceptible to getting shut down. The Sox have been held to one run in three of the 10 games since Anthony’s injury, matching the number of times they’d been held to an output that low in the prior 40 games,” Speier wrote.
The Sox’ ability to get on base was also noted to have significantly worsened, along with the hitting stats of their players. Ceddanne Rafaela was one of the worst, as he used to be an anchor of the offense in the first half of the season.
Perhaps the most dramatic drop off has been in the Sox' ability to reliably work counts and get on base. The Sox have a .296 OBP over their last 10 games (23rd in MLB), with a 6.5 percent walk rate (27th)...A number of players already had started to see their production slide. Ceddanne Rafaela has been in a hole since the All-Star break (.184/.236/.270),” Speier stated.
Overall, the Sox need to find someone to rally their offense around or just figure out how to get on base, and not try to be heroes. The latter is probably the better option, but the Sox will have the return of star slugger and Gold Glove Wilyer Abreu very soon, and he could be their sparkplug.
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