At the start of May 1st, the Boston Red Sox found themselves with a 15-14 record, tied with the New York Yankees for fourth place in the American League East. If this is not where you’d hoped to see the Red Sox 29 games into the season, you may need to reassess your preseason expectations in the context of what we now know about the league.
The Red Sox have played nine series thus far, winning six of those series and losing three. The three series they have lost have been to the Tampa Bay Rays (23-6), the Pittsburgh Pirates (20-9), and the Baltimore Orioles (19-9). They have played a total of six games against teams with losing records, one of which (the Cleveland Guardians) was a mere one game under .500 when they visited Fenway this past weekend. Both the Red Sox and the Yankees have played brutal schedules to-date in 2023, while the Rays have enjoyed a historic start playing a schedule that has included 18 games against the Tigers, Nationals, A’s, Reds, and White Sox (although they did sweep Boston in four straight at Tropicana Field as well).
The injury bug has been a significant issue yet again in 2023. The ideal starting rotation of Chris Sale, Corey Kluber, Garrett Whitlock, Nick Pivetta, and Brayan Bello has not fully taken shape at any point, with Whitlock and Bello each missing time with injuries and Sale, Kluber, and Pivetta battling varying degrees of inconsistency. With Whitlock now back on the Injured List and Bello recalled from Worcester immediately after being sent down, the starting rotation is still stuck in a quagmire of uncertainty. This situation will only become more complicated over the next few weeks if James Paxton has a couple more solid rehab starts and is deemed capable of joining the team.
The offense, on the other hand, has been resilient. The Red Sox are third in MLB in scoring despite the early loss of Adam Duvall, who had channeled his inner DiMaggio in the first eight games of the season. Rafael Devers has been the intimidating force John Henry paid for despite his low batting average, consistently dropping bombs into the seats and striking fear into the hearts of pitchers leaguewide. Alex Verdugo and Jarren Duran have taken evolutionary leaps forward that would make Professor Charles Xavier proud. Masataka Yoshida has shown that he’s the real deal (even though Triston Casas has not). Kiké Hernandez, despite some defensive challenges, has rediscovered his swing while keeping the clubhouse on an even keel. Fringe roster guys like Yu Chang, Enmanuel Valdez, and Christian Arroyo have taken turns contributing in small doses to help turn the lineup over. And let’s not gloss over the dazzling tandem behind the plate that nobody seems to be talking about.
All things considered, the first month has been a success. The Red Sox have held serve in a positively beastly division while playing virtually nothing but good teams, all while battling injuries and a fanbase that often seems more interested in stewing over losses than reveling victories.
With one month in the books and five more on the way, let’s identify which players have been particularly valuable to the successful April the Red Sox put together.
Best Starting Pitcher
Tanner Houck
Raise your hand if you had Tanner Houck penciled in on April 1st as the best starting pitcher the Red Sox would have at the end of a winning April.
Paws down, liars.
Houck has been the model of consistency in a rotation that has been the antithesis of that. He’s gone five innings or more and given up three earned runs or less in four of his five starts, to the tune of a 3-1 record, a 4.50 ERA, 8.3 K/9 and a 2.40 K/BB ratio. The guy who I didn’t trust to face lefthanded hitters has been the lynchpin of this rotation for an entire month, with the Red Sox winning four of his five starts. He could be even better as a late-inning relief pitcher, but how could anyone in good conscience remove him from the starting five? I don’t care if it’s James Paxton or James Palmer returning from injury, Tanner stays where he is.
Best Relief Pitcher
Josh Winckowski
With all do respect to Kenley Jansen, who knows how many save opportunities he’d even have so far this season without Winckowski? He was a pleasant surprise as a starting pitcher following some injuries last year until ultimately being exposed and sent back down to Worcester. This year, he’s been a revelation in the bullpen.
At 24 years old with an impressive sinker/slider/cutter combination, he has pretty good upside as a starting pitcher once his fastball and change-up develop a bit more. Until that happens, he’s a great weapon to have stroll in from the bullpen when the opposition has not prepared their offensive game plan around combating his stuff. In ten April relief appearances, he has a 1.40 ERA with ten strikeouts and only four walks over 19.1 innings. During a month of total uncertainty regarding what to expect from the starting pitching, Winckowski has been crucial in a long relief/setup hybrid role that has saved the other arms in the bullpen and done a phenomenal job bridging the gap to Jansen.
Best Bat
Alex Verdugo
I went on record in the preseason saying that Alex Verdugo ain’t that dude. I hope he continues to make me eat my words all season long en route to earning a sick paycheck from Fenway Sports Group.
While Raffy has supplied the tape measure bombs and intimidation factor, Verdugo has seemingly provided everything else. Embedded in the leadoff position since Opening Day, he’s been among the hardest hitters to retire in all of baseball. Pitch him away, and he’ll slap a single to left. Bust him in, and he’ll pull a double to right-center. Leave one in his wheelhouse, and kiss it goodbye. He hit 11 home runs all of last season, yet he just ripped four in April alone. He pulled what looked like two gut-wrenching losses into the win column with walk-off singles against the Twins and Guardians (he did it again on May 1st with a walk-off homer against the Blue Jays, but we’re only talking about April here). Nobody else in MLB has more than one walk-off hit. Is he finally making that leap from talented dummy to star player that we’ve all tried to will into existence for two years?
Best Glove
Rafael Devers
I almost gave this award to Verdugo as well for spending the month prowling Fenway’s right field the way Dwight Evans did in the early eighties. But Rafael Devers deserves special consideration in light of the extenuating circumstances surrounding his defense.
Devers began his career as unmistakably the worst third baseman in baseball. It wasn’t until last season that we all finally agreed that his defense had significantly improved. Still, we all assumed that he was on a two-to-three-year path to becoming Boston’s permanent DH when he signed his 11-year, $331 million contract this past offseason. Now, however, I’m not so sure.
Rafael Devers made one error in April. One. On April 30th.
The guy who committed 14 errors in 57 games in 2020 only committed one in 28 April contests. He’s even graced a few highlight reels corralling hard grounders and bare-handing slow tappers. In six seasons, Devers has slowly matured from defensive liability to one-dimensional threat to complete ballplayer. I can’t wait to see what other tricks he’ll reveal to us over the next 11 years.
Tenth Player Award
Connor Wong
When I was a kid, Boston network WSBK TV-38 used to annually hand out the fan-voted Tenth Player Award. The award would typically go to an under-the-radar player who exceeds expectations. Previous winners include Dave Stapleton, Steve Lyons, Jody Reed, and Bob Zupcic. My Tenth Player Award for the month of April has to go to Connor Wong.
Poor Connor rode into Boston with a target on his back due to being one of the players (along with Alex Verdugo and Jeter Downs) that the Red Sox got in return for the hated Mookie Betts trade. However, his performance in the month of April has surely converted some Wong haters into believers. He’s gunned down six of 11 potential base stealers so far (an astronomical 55%), a stark contrast with Reese McGuire’s utter inability to control the running game. In a year where pitch clocks and bigger bases have caused stolen bases to soar, Wong’s cannon has prevented the rest of the league from dismantling the Red Sox on the base paths. To close out April this past weekend, he racked up five hits, caught another runner stealing, snagged a stolen base of his own, smashed a 426-foot homer, and dropped a perfect bunt to setup Verdugo’s second walk-off hit of the season.
We all know that catcher is a defense-first position where offensive production is largely considered a bonus. Offering a two-way tandem like Connor Wong and Reese McGuire (who is hitting .332 since arriving in Boston last July), gives the Red Sox a formidable backstop tandem that is virtually unmatched in MLB.
This team faced adversity all month long against perhaps the toughest schedule in all of baseball, yet they still came out of April with a winning record. They fight to the end every night, boasting the most comeback wins and walk-off victories in the sport. They have an elite offense, a solid bullpen, and a starting rotation that oozes potential.
Time to jump on board the bandwagon, Sox fans. My team of analysts is hard at work trying to determine a respectable deadline for closing the 2023 ride to new passengers. Stay tuned for details.
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