There are no brakes: Xander Bogaerts arrives on big stage Present and future collided in spectacular fashion for the Red Sox on Saturday, in a manner that not only secured the teams entry to the World Series but also laid the cornerstone of the coming Era of Xander. Xander Bogaerts is 21 years old, having reached that landmark age just this month. He is the youngest Red Sox player ever to start a game in the postseason. After he opened the year in Double-A, having played just one month at that level in 2012, there is an element of absurdity to the fact that he even has the opportunity to play in October, let alone to the fact that he is thriving there. Bogaerts knows this. I’m not even supposed to be here, he beamed during the clubhouse celebration after the Red Sox clinched their spot in the Fall Classic with a 5-2 win in which Bogaerts was the most impactful player. Now, I’m sitting back, seeing some of the things I do, some of the pitches I take, and I don’t know how its happening. But it is happening, in a fashion that is dizzying to observe. In a setting where even veteran players are sometimes overwhelmed, either by the pressures of the environment or the dominant Tigers pitching staff that spent most of the series overpowering the rest of the Red Sox lineup, Bogaerts excelled. He doubled off the bench against Tigers closer Joaquin Benoit in Game 4 of the series. In his first start in Game 5, he hit another double and worked a walk in which he refused to expand the strike zone. Then came Game 6. Against Max Scherzer, the pitcher who had the most dominant season in the American League in 2013 and who had tremendous stuff in the ALCS, Bogaerts had the best at-bats of any member of the Red Sox lineup in the clinching Game 6 victory of the American League Championship Series. He worked a seven-pitch walk in his first plate appearance, an at-bat that included a take of a 2-2 slider that surprised even Bogaerts after the game. I don’t know how I took it. I don’t know why I took it. It’s a pitch that everyone would swing at. I just started laughing, admitted Bogaerts. How did I take that? I thought that was a sign that my night would be good. That first walk represented an extraordinary at-bat in its own right. But it gains even more significance in that a year ago, in that month in Double-A, Bogaerts walked once in 97 plate appearances. With both that third-inning walk and another in the seventh inning that served as a prelude to Bogaerts scoring the game-winning run on Shane Victorinos grand slam, hes now walked five times in 11 playoff plate appearances against some of the best pitchers in the American League. It’s hard to put into words the poise he’s shown in these games and at-bats. It’s one thing to go up there and get a mistake, hit a ball hard, but he’s having quality at-bats, seeing pitches, taking tough pitches. It’s pretty remarkable what he’s doing, Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said. You think back to the conversation last winter and spring training with him, with our player development people, that if there was one part of his game that maybe needed to tick up a little bit, it was his discipline at the plate. He said, ‘OK, I’ll do that.’ Sure enough, he did it. He did it in Double-A. He did it in Triple-A. And now he’s doing it in the playoffs. It’s pretty impressive. But hes been more than an on-base machine. When he swings the bat, he hits rockets. Hes 3-for-6 in his postseason at-bats, with all of his hits having been doubles. The full-count double he smashed high off the Wall in left-center against Scherzer was no cheapie, either -- it was a blast that would have cleared almost any fence that did not possess monstrous dimensions. Come on! I thought I had all of that, Bogaerts pronounced. I saw it going, then I saw the wall -- a little more to center and it would have been gone. I guess this was a series of only doubles for me. And so many walks. Doubles and walks -- an impressive combination. In his limited playoff exposure, which now includes two starts and 11 plate appearances, Bogaerts is a striking 3-for-6 with three doubles and five walks, good for a comical line of .500/.727/1.000. To appreciate what Bogaerts has done at this age in his limited playoff opportunities to date, it is necessary to seek the context of history. He is just the second player ever, at the age of 21 or younger, to have two games in which he accepted multiple free passes, joining Edgar Renteria (1997 as a 21-year-old) in doing so. His five walks are the third most ever by a player age 21 or younger in the postseason, behind only Renteria (8 in 1997 as a 21-year-old) and Andruw Jones (7 in 1996 as a 19-year-old). The roll call of players who are just behind Bogaerts on the list of most walks by a 21-year-old features some dazzling names, including Miguel Cabrera (4 as a 20-year-old in 2003), Stan Musial (4 as a 21-year-old in 1942) and Mickey Mantle (3 as a 20-year-old in 1952 and as a 21-year-old in 1953). Meanwhile, Bogaerts three doubles put him in rare air with some of the greatest hitters of all time. He is just the ninth player in history to collect three multi-base knocks at age 21 or younger. The other eight include Cabrera (eight-time All-Star, likely to win his second straight MVP this year), Mantle (three-time MVP and Hall of Famer), Andrew Jones (five-time All-Star, 434 career homers), Joe DiMaggio (three-time MVP and Hall of Famer) and Jimmie Foxx (three-time MVP and Hall of Famer), as well as Renteria, Bryce Harper and (outlier alert) Wayne Garrett. Those performances point to the notion that young players with the ability to maintain a disciplined approach, draw walks and drive the ball under circumstances where other players falter have the potential to do special things in the game. And if it wasnt already clear, it is now in this postseason talent show: Superstardom is within Bogaerts reach. Red Sox international scouting director Eddie Romero often cautioned as Bogaerts was coming up through the Red Sox system that it was important, every now and again, to pump the brakes, to try to maintain realistic expectations about any young player given the near-inevitability of struggles at some point. And now? There are no brakes. Let him go, Romero said with a laugh in the clubhouse celebration. He’s always had an advanced feel for the game even though he’d never played that much. It’s just an instinct, an uncanny ability to slow things down. He’s always performed, being younger for his league everywhere he’s gone. I just couldn’t be happier for him. He’s such an amazing kid. He’s such a hard worker. He’s fit in the clubhouse here so incredibly well. It’s not just natural: He works his [tail] off, too. The performance of a young player on this stage represents a tantalizing hint of what is to come. Yet it would be a mistake to evaluate what Bogaerts is doing as a mere glimpse of the future with considerable promise for the Red Sox. His talents are already glimmering. Bogaerts has arrived, ready for prime time as the Red Sox prepare for the World Series. Man, if we can all be 20 and be in the big leagues like him, it would be a different world, marveled Daniel Nava. He’s really good. You don’t have to say he’s going to be really good one day, because he’s really good right now. MAX SPEIER COLUMNIST FOR WEEI IN BOSTON
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 17:14:42 +0000
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