THE CASE FOR 2020 | CONTINUED FROM PAGE 45
Did somebody mention RAFAEL DEVERS?
Known as “Carita” (baby-face), the third
baseman with the sweet disposition
and lethal bat became only the second
player in Red Sox history to hit .300 or
better with 30 or more home runs and
100-plus RBIs before the age of 23. And
whose company is he keeping? Just Ted
Williams. Hard to believe that Devers did
not hit a home run in his first 32 games
while driving in just 10 runs. In addition
to his 32 home runs, Devers also bashed
54 doubles while leading the Sox with 201
hits. According to Statcast, he also led the
majors in hard-hit balls (95 miles an hour
or more) with 252.
______
EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ, who at 26 enjoyed
the kind of success predicted for him since
he came to the Sox organization in 2014 in
the trade that sent reliever Andrew Miller
to the Baltimore Orioles. The Venezuelan
left-hander won a career-high 19 games
while losing just 6 times, winning 6 of
his last 7 decisions while posting backto
back 10-plus strikeout games for the
first time in September starts against the
Phillies (12 K’s) and Giants (10 K’s). E-Rod
profited from the best run support in the
majors (7.88 runs per start), but pitched
deep into games for the first time in his
career, making nine starts of seven innings
or more (compared to none in 2018) while
going at least five innings in 28 consecutive
starts. Rodriguez eclipsed 200 innings
(203) for the first time in his career, one
of just 15 starters in the majors to reach
that level (200 innings is an increasingly
rare benchmark, incidentally. In 2005, 50
starters threw at least 200 innings).
Sale, Martinez, Bogaerts, Devers,
Rodriguez. Those are the headliners on
the 2020 Sox. But manager Ron Roenicke,
promoted from bench coach to replace
Cora, has a rosterful of complementary
players to draw from in his quest to restore
the Sox to contender status.
“I will say this,’’ Roenicke said at the news
conference in which he was introduced as
manager. “We believed strongly enough in
the talent level in this team as a whole to
believe that we can still compete, and you
guys have seen it over the years.
RED SOX MAGAZINE
MITCH MORELAND
NATE EOVALDI
BILLIE WEISS
MICHAEL IVINS
MICHAEL IVINS
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