McAdam: Xander Bogaerts making good on his manager's lofty expectations

As the Houston Astros bench coach, Alex Cora spent last year watching Carlos Correa up close for nearly nine months. Before the season started, he got to see Cleveland's Francisco Lindor, too, in his role as general manager of Team Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic.

Cora marveled at their athleticism, power and instincts.

As impressed as he was with both, Cora maintained this spring that Xander Bogaerts could be every bit as good. He spent much of spring training convincing Bogaerts of this.

Cora recognized that the Bogaerts he watched from a distance in the second half of last season wasn't the real Xander Bogaerts. For one thing, he was dealing with a right hand that ached and severely limited him at the plate. For another, Bogaerts had grown passive at the plate, putting himself at a disadvantage by consistently falling into pitcher's counts.

He urged Bogaerts to be more aggressive and stressed that he expected Bogaerts to be one of the team's top run producers. He installed him fifth in the lineup and left him there, convinced that, healthy and newly aggressive, he was the perfect hitters to hit behind J.D. Martinez and Mitch Moreland.

Now, with the season more than three-quarters complete, it's clear that Cora knew what he was doing. On Wednesday, Bogaerts went deep twice, giving him 19 homers; on the Red Sox, only Martinez (with 38) and Mookie Betts (27) have more homers.

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And owing to his spot in the lineup and the run-producing opportunities, but also, due to his ability to deliver with runners in scoring position, Bogaerts has 80 RBI, a figure eclipsed on the club only by Martinez.

With 34 games remaining, it seems certain that Bogaerts will top both the 25 homer threshold and 100 RBI plateau.

"He's a special player,'' marveled Cora. "He looks stronger. He drove one (homer) to right, one to left and (a long fly ball to the warning track) to center. He's staying in the zone, playing good defense. You start looking at the numbers and they're impressive. He's becoming that player that we envisioned before the season. We knew there was going to be a lot of traffic in front of him and with his ability to put the ball in play, we knew he'd be able to cash in. And right now, he's doing that.''

Cora knows that Bogaerts has made some adjustments to accommodate the team's expectations. Because he makes frequent contact, Bogaerts could probably hit .320 or better. But the Sox urged him to trade some of those singles for extra-base hits to produce more damage and Bogaerts has succeeded in doing so.

"In that spot, we know he can be a run producer,'' Cora said. "You look at him, he's 6-3, big and strong and very athletic and he's (already) won two Silver Sluggers, so it's not like he was a 'defensive shortstop.' Now, he has a lot of opportunities to hit the ball all over the ballpark. He's hitting doubles (37, tying him with Betts for the team lead).

"I would love him to get to a .900 OPS. (Bogaerts is at .887). That would be great. I keep telling him, keep pushing him. (Hitting) .300 with 30 (homers) and 1o0 (RBI) used to be tough; now, it's a .900 OPS. That's what they talk about in the clubhouse. If he keeps doing what he's doing, he can get there.''

Bogaerts isn't one to celebrate his own achievements. He explains his newfound approach in simple terms -- "try to do some damage'' -- while also emphasizing the virtues of maintaining his strength throughout the course of the season.

He also spoke, indirectly, about having learned a lesson about not trying to play through an obvious injury the way he did last season, and joked that his bulked-up physique -- the better to maintain his power -- has him feeling "fat.''

But mostly, it's his run production numbers that are inflated, just as his manager envisioned, back at the start of spring training. With his hand healed and his confidence brimming, Bogaerts's season is coming together as planned.