At last, baseball is back.
The first games of Red Sox spring training took place over the weekend with the annual college kick-off game against Northeastern on Friday, followed by the first official Grapefruit League game on Saturday.
The score, as always, is meaningless. But the results from a play-to-play, player-to-player provide us a glimpse at what might be to come — especially for a certain trio of young budding superstars…
Big 3 debuts
Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell have all officially made their unofficial Red Sox debuts.
Anthony, baseball’s top prospect in many eyes, went 1 for 3 with a strikeout in his debut on Saturday in a 6-4 win over the Rays.
Mayer went 1 for 3 with a strikeout in Friday’s game against the Huskies, then followed it up with a 1 for 4, one-RBI, one-walk and two-strikeout showing on Saturday. Mayer drove in Boston’s first run against the Rays on a fly-ball single to left in the first inning.
“It’s been too long. It was good, it was a really good time,” Mayer told NESN in a mid-game TV interview Friday. “Just to be out there again playing a competitive game with fans, wearing the Red Sox uniform, it felt really good.”
As for Campbell, the second baseman was 0 for 3 on Friday and 0 for 1 with a walk as a defensive replacement in the sixth on Saturday. Campbell did tease us with a nice snag on a line drive up the middle in the seventh against Tampa.
There’s not much that can be gleaned from a handful of at-bats in a game or two, but seeing the “Big 3” in uniform, in action together just makes it feel that much more real. It’s a reminder that, sooner than later, watching Anthony, Mayer and Campbell will be the norm and not the exception.
That’s pretty exciting, if you ask me…
Everyone else
Of course, the Big 3 aren’t the only ones playing baseball in Florida…
Boston’s first two games featured some good moments for plenty of others, including one Ceddanne Rafaela. The 24-year-old reminded us that he is indeed still a big part of the Red Sox’s future with his first home run this spring, a solo shot in Saturday’s third inning.
Again, it’s one game and one at bat, yet offense is the biggest part of Rafaela’s game that needs to come around. It would be extremely encouraging to see him get on a little tear here during spring training.
I was asked many a time last year about this part of Rafaela’s game, and I preached patience. We should start to see some of that patience rewarded this year, if all goes according to plan. Who knows how big of a jump Rafaela will make at the dish, but I would certainly expect him to make noticeable some strides.
Non-roster invitee Trayce Thompson also homered on Saturday, connecting for a two-run shot in the fourth inning. Thompson is an interesting addition to the roster, but with such a logjam in the outfield already, I doubt there’s much he’ll be able to do to make the team out of camp…
Then, there’s the pitching. Quinn Priester turned in a two-inning start on Saturday, allowing a home run on two hits with a walk. Luis Guerrero impressed with a three-strikeout, one-walk outing in tow, then we saw Michael Fulmer get knocked around a little bit with three hits and a walk but no runs allowed in 1 2/3 innings. Shane Drohan also fanned three over two scoreless innings to finish off the ballgame.
Priester, like Thompson, is also a victim of a logjam in front of him in the rotation. We saw some encouraging stuff from him in his lone outing with Boston after the trade from Pittsburgh last September. But it would likely take a handful of injuries for him to get a consistent run in the big leagues this season.
Guerrero, meanwhile, is continuing to build momentum for being a significant contributor out of the bullpen this season…
Bello setback
Speaking of potential injuries to the rotation, it seems we’re not starting out on a great note…
We already knew that Kutter Crawford was dealing with right knee soreness and is officially in doubt for Opening Day, but now Brayan Bello is dealing with shoulder inflammation that has been bothering him since the outset of camp.
The 25-year-old right-hander is under evaluation and will undergo a strength test on Sunday.
“He hasn’t started throwing bullpens yet. Let’s see next week how it goes,” Alex Cora told reporters via MLB.com.
This figures to be a big year for Bello, and it’s not ideal that it’s starting out with some health question marks. Bello has posted ERAs in the fours in each of his three big league seasons, and it would be nice to see him take that next step.
And the Sox are definitely counting on that, given that nice big extension they gave him around this time last season…
How ‘bout those Yankees…
Let’s take a brief aside to focus on what’s happening in Yankee land, shall we?
Boston’s hated rivals and reigning American League champions had themselves an interesting week.
First, they extended manager Aaron Boone on a two-year contract after he “led” them to their first World Series appearance since 2009. That, of course, did not come anywhere close to resulting in a championship thanks to the buzzsaw that is the Dodgers…
I have long been perplexed with the Yankees organization’s fixation with Boone. Before last year, the Yankees had thoroughly underwhelmed for the vast majority of his Bronx tenure, which is now entering its eighth season.
The goal in New York, as it should be in Boston, is to be contending for the World Series year in and year out. That just hasn’t been the case, and especially of late (again, before last year). But I suppose getting to doorstep of a championship is worthy of an extension…
For my money? These Yankees as currently constituted will never win a title with Boone at the helm.
Then, there’s the whole beard drama. Excuse me… the beard nonsense.
At long last, the Yankees have officially done away with their ridiculous “clean-shaven” mandate that was instituted by George Steinbrenner. It lasted an impressive 49 years — hey, it was a different time.
In today’s world, beards are as mainstream as Instagram and TikTok. It was long past time for the Yanks to scrap their outdated policy, and for that I do commend them.
But my goodness… to hold a nearly 20-minute press conference on the subject where Hal Steinbrenner was addressing and agonizing over the subject like it was a consequential government policy. What a joke.
Hal, you’re just making a fool of yourself. It was an outdated policy, as you acknowledge. But let’s not treat this like it was something that actually held any weight.
Kindly, get over yourselves…