Red Sox

‘We had a horrible month’: A closer look at why the Red Sox have struggled offensively

"If we want to compete and be the team we envisioned, we have to hit."

Jackie Bradley Jr. hit .156 in April. Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP

May 1, 2022

Coming into the season, the offense was supposed to be a strength on a Red Sox team with several other question marks and unknowns.

So far, the 9-13 Red Sox are 21st in the Majors in batting average (.225), 24th in runs (76), 25th in home runs (12), and 29th in on-base percentage (.273).

“The bottom line is we’ve got to swing the bats,” manager Alex Cora said. “We had a horrible month in April. We didn’t do our job.”

Cora said it’s easy to talk about how it’s early in the season, but the reality is the Red Sox have to put together better-quality at-bats. He said it seems like the Red Sox get going, then they stop, and all of a sudden it’s the seventh or eighth inning and the game is tight.

Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles was a prime example, as the Red Sox scored in the first inning and didn’t muster another run the rest of the way. They became the only team to get walked-off on by every other team in their division in a single month since the Cubs in May 2012.

Yesterday, the Red Sox became the first team to get walked-off on by every other team in their division in a single month since the Cubs in May 2012.
— Jeremy Frank (@MLBRandomStats) May 1, 2022

Xander Bogaerts (.375, nine RBIs), Rafael Devers (.293, three home runs, nine RBIs), and J.D. Martinez (.278, eight RBIs) are doing their part, but after that, the numbers get are quite bleak.

Alex Verdugo (.238), Trevor Story (.224, zero home runs), Christian Vázquez (.217), Kiké Hernández (.193), Jackie Bradley Jr. (.156, zero home runs), and Bobby Dalbec (.147) are all regulars struggling to piece hits together.

It’s important to note that MLB averages are lower than they used to be in general, as the Rockies lead the league at .261 and all but nine teams are hitting .240 or lower. Even so, the Red Sox aren’t hitting anywhere close to the standard they’ve set for themselves.

Alex Cora on the Red Sox offense: “We had a horrible month.”
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) May 1, 2022

Martinez knows there’s no excuse, but he does have a theory.

“I think the shortened spring has something to do with it,” he told reporters. “I don’t think a lot of guys got to tweak (their swings). During Spring Training, you always see guys tweaking. I feel like you want to struggle in spring because that’s when you get to try to see if it works.”

He believes they might have rushed the process out of necessity and that players are now trying to play catch-up and struggling as a result.

Cora said the Red Sox have to stop swinging at bad pitches and chasing and finish at-bats. Despite their struggles, he’s still confident they can turn it around.

“If we want to compete and be the team we envisioned, we have to hit.”