McAdam: Walk-off hero Michael Chavis learns as he goes at the plate for Red Sox

Life in the big leagues can be a roller coaster, a lesson that, if he didn't already know, Michael Chavis learned in the last week.

Only last week, the rookie infielder was working through his first big league slump. On Sunday, that came to an end. And on Wednesday night, when he delivered a walk-off single to bring the Red Sox a 6-5  10-inning win over the Colorado Rockies, the hitless skid that he weathered was officially a distant memory.

The slump was inevitable. After his first few weeks in the big leagues, when he seemingly could do no wrong, all of sudden, Chavis couldn't buy a hit.

After stinging the ball everywhere, suddenly, one hitless game followed another until the streak finally reached 19 at-bats. But through it all, Chavis never wavered. He expected a rough patch would come eventually, so when it did, Chavis was prepared.



"I kind of just treated it like any other struggle point throughout my career,'' Chavis said. "I think every single year, someone's going to hit a little bit of a bump. I did it when I first signed -- I went 4-for-50-something. I've had struggles before and looking back, I'm thankful for those kinds of struggles. It's better to deal with them then and learn how to deal with it, cope with it and how to get out of it than to be here right now and not know what to do.

"For me, a big thing is staying process-oriented. If I'm staying focused on the progress I need to make -- I need to take a good swing, get a good pitch to hit and not try to do too much with the results -- that's what gets me out of it.''

Finally, on Sunday, came the break. First, Chavis reached when Seattle rookie second baseman Shed Long overran a popup in shallow right, then slipped on the wet grass, enabling the ball to fall in. Later, Chavis contributed two legitimate singles -- both line drives to right -- and finished the day 3-for-5 with five RBI.

Looking back on his slump, Chavis noted: "I felt like I was missing pitches, where I was maybe trying to do too much -- fouling it off, and then, all of a sudden, I'm 1-and-2 instead of 1-and-1, and that's a whole different at-bat.''

Problem solved? Not yet.

Chavis immediately took nearly an hour of hitting in the indoor cage behind the Red Sox dugout, and after returning to the clubhouse to speak with the media, went back to the cage for more swings.

"Since I was a kid,'' said Chavis, "hitting is my favorite thing to do. Putting in the work isn't like a job or a chore; it's something that I enjoy doing. I had a key to the batting cage in high school, because they knew I wanted to go hit if I wasn't feeling good (at the plate), I wanted to go work on it. I don't like just sitting there (and saying), 'I'm sure it will feel better tomorrow.' And I'm not in there taking a million hacks with no plan.

"A lot of hitting for me is feel and if I can't feel my swing, I'm not going to go into a game and think, 'Oh, here's what I'm supposed to do.' So I want to just feel it out and get a point where I know what I need to do to make the adjustment. Then I'm aware of what I'm trying to do.''

Alex Cora took note of how Chavis was handling his first challenge.

"You always want to pay attention,'' Cora said. "He was the same, trying to get feedback from (the team's hitting coaches) and had the same routine in the cage. And that's what you want. It's not easy to hit at this level and you're going to go through stretches like that. But I don't think people really noticed that he was 0-for-19. You see the quality of at-bats and you see the 0-for-19 and you're like, 'Really? It doesn't feel that way. So, that's a good sign.''

Chavis also watches video and checks the notes he's made in his notebook. The notebook has gotten plenty of attention, as NESN cameras have focused on Chavis dutifully making entries following every at-bat -- good or bad.

"The purpose of it,'' said Chavis, "is to stay level and stay consistent. So when I'm writing in it after an at-bat, whether it's a home run or a strikeout, when I'm done writing, I want to be over with the at-bat. I want to be able to start over. I don't want to hit a home run and then be feeling myself a little bit and go into my next at-bat and try to re-create it. If I strike out, I'm done when that at-bat's over; if I hit a home run, I'm done when that at-bat's over. So I start from scratch, essentially, trying to not re-create it, but repeat the swing and the process.''

Although he's always been a good hitter, his power in the first few weeks of his major league career has come as a surprise. Chavis has hit seven homers since his debut on April 20, the most on the Red Sox during that span and tying him for fifth most in the American League.

And not only has he hit a lot of homers, but he's also some prodigious shots. Eight weeks into the season, Chavis can claim the five longest home runs for the Red Sox this season, including two which traveled over 450 feet.

In a lineup that boasts the likes of Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez and Mitch Moreland, that's quite a feat for a rookie.

"It's cool,'' shrugs Chavis, "but they all count the same. As long as they go over. It's not something I'm trying to do. I'm not trying to hit home runs -- I'm just trying to hit the ball hard. Something Tim (Hyers, hitting coach) said to me that really clicked was, 'Try to hit the ball hard, not far.' It sounds really simple, but when you analyze what you're trying to do with your swing, it really synchs up a lot of things."