McAdam On Gresh & Zo: Red Sox Lacking In The Run Prevention Department
BOSTON (CBS) - The Boston Red Sox have gotten off to a slow start in 2014, starting 10-12. While some look at the starting pitching and offense as the biggest problems, the defense of the Red Sox has not been good either.
Andy Gresh and Scott Zolak were joined by CSNNE's Sean McAdam and discussed the Red Sox defense, particularly the defensive contributions of younger players like Xander Boagaerts.
"It's not just to the eye because in defensive efficiency, which is converting balls in play to outs; going into last night, the Red Sox were 29th out of 30 teams," McAdam said.
Not to worry though, because help is on the way. According to McAdam, the return of outfielder Shane Victorino will help in the run prevention department.
"Shane Victorino will help that a lot just because he is an excellent right fielder in a very difficult position -- at least at Fenway," McAdam said. "So now you at least have Victorino at right and Jackie Bradley Jr. in center. You have two guys that can cover a lot of ground and make it to some of those balls that have been dropping in with others. Those are going to happen less frequently."
Although Victorino is due back soon, there's no telling how effective he'll be due to the nature of his injury history.
"It's open to debate how much Victorino is going to be able to play out of the gate. This is a guy with chronic hamstring issues and has had his difficulties the last couple of years," added McAdam.
McAdam also talked about how Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley are both going through the typical growing pains that rookies go through on the defensive side of the ball.
"I still think Bogaerts is going to be a pretty good shortstop but there are going to be growing pains, whether it's positioning, fundamentals or just the kind of brain farts we've seen from him," McAdam said.
"And the same thing with Jackie Bradley in the last week too. … When you have two young players, two guys who are classified as rookies, at arguably the two most important positions on the field, shortstop and centerfield, you have to go in knowing and accepting that there are going to be growing pains," McAdam concluded.
Listen below for the full discussion:
Sean McAdam Interview
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