McAdam: Three Red Sox players looking for bounce-back seasons

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The first few weeks of spring training are a time of unbridled optimism.

The weather is warm, every player is in the best shape of his life, and every team can see its way toward contention.

Here in Red Sox' camp, that optimism is even more evident with the franchise coming off a World Series win.

But even as the Sox set a club record for most wins en route to its latest title, not everyone had their best personal seasons. With that mind,  here are three players who hope that 2019 is better than last.



EDUARDO NUNEZ

With Dustin Pedroia unavailable for all but three games, Nunez had a heavier workload than he expected. That, combined with a knee injury that wasn't fully healed from the previous fall, combined to make it a tough year.

Before last season, he had started a grand total of just 13 games at second in his career. In Pedroia's absence, he made 64, more than a third of the schedule. It didn't go well.

Limited by the knee and unaccustomed to the playing on the right side of the infield, Nunez profiled as one of the worst second basemen in the game, providing little range. It wasn't much better offensively, as Nunez couldn't drive the ball because of the knee.

"It wasn't pretty in the beginning,'' acknowledged Alex Cora. "It seems like he was building strength with his knee. He didn't look pretty all the time. The range wasn't there.''

Things got better in the second half, as Nunez regained some of his explosiveness at the plate. He had a .742 OPS in July and .725 OPS in August before a hamstring issue limited him in September and into the postseason.

This spring, Nunez appears healthy again.

"Physically, he looks a lot better,'' noted Cora. "He's moving around. You can tell, that first step is back. Nuney was an explosive player (in the past) and I think we're going to get that version of him last year. He should be fine. You can see on the turns and starting double plays, he's able to place his feet and make good throws.''



TYLER THORNBURG

Thornburg is entering his third season with the Red Sox, and still, the team has yet to see him at his best. He missed all of 2017 after being diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome and undergoing surgery and while he returned in July last year and showed flashes, he was nowhere the pitcher he had been in 2016 with Milwaukee (2.15 ERA; .940 WHIP). The Red Sox shut him down in early September when it became evident that he wasn't recovering from outings as quickly as needed.

This spring has seen Thornburg's fastball regain its previous life, with an added sharpness to his breaking ball. Even when his mechanics were off in a Tuesday live batting practice session, Thornburg's velocity was impressive and caught the eye of both hitters and the staff.

"Probably for him, it wasn't a great day,'' Cora noted. "But for me, just watching, it was like, 'OK.' He's going to have good days and bad days, but as long as his stuff stays the same, he's going to be fine. I see it as a positive. If you're just concerned about mechanics, that's good.''

The fact that Thornburg overthrew a few breaking balls and bounced some changeups in the dirt was a minor sticking point.

"All around, the velocity and finish was there,'' Cora. "We need him back and if we get the good version of Tyler, it's another good arm that can get people out in the late innings.''



SANDY LEON

Leon was the starting catcher in almost half (79) the Red Sox regular season games but suffered through a brutal year at the plate.

The same catcher who posted an .845 OPS in 2016 slumped to a .511 OPS last year with an OPS+ of 37 (meaning he was 63 percent worse than the average player).

From July 13 through the end of the season, he hit .102 (or what one might expect from a National League pitcher) and knocked in three runs over 127 at-bats. From the All-Star break on, he was as close to being an automatic out as a major leaguer can be.

This spring -- and, in fact, over the winter -- Leon has made some adjustments. He's cut down on his leg kick and tried to improve his pitch selection. Too often, Leon lunged at pitches out of the strike zone last year, a problem that was as much mental as anything.

By all accounts, Leon, who went through a stretch in the middle of the season where he caught the vast majority of games while Christian Vazquez recovered from a broken finger, was trying to do too much and the combination of physical fatigue and desperation created poor results.

"For me, it's already in the past,'' said Leon. "It was a long season for me. I've been working on trying to keep it simple at the plate with Tim (Hyers) and Andy (Barnett), swing at strikes at the plate.''

Leon isn't about to put up numbers like J.T. Realmuto or Gary Sanchez at the plate.

"For me, my strong point is defense,'' he said. "If I can catch, call a good game, we're going to win the game, especially with the kind of offense we have. If I hit, it's plus for me and the team, too. And I know I can hit. It's going to be a different year.''