Red Sox Positional Preview: Shortstop
One of the most important and crucial positions in baseball is shortstop. The Red Sox have a lot of players who can play that position on their roster, but when you factor in their injury history, it suddenly seems like a position that severely lacks depth. This is going to be a long one, so buckle in.
Kiké Hernández
Kiké Hernández is among the best defensive utility players in all of baseball. He provides quality defense in centerfield, at second base, and at shortstop, the last of which will prove immeasurably valuable for the Red Sox.
Last season, Kiké Hernández hit .222 with 6 home runs, 45 RBIs, and a .691 OPS. Hernández also had a 0.9 bWAR, and a sub-par 75 OPS+. He injured himself on an impressive diving play at shortstop against the Angels in July, which forced him to miss the majority of the Summer, which is when he happens to perform best. All in all, it was an unfortunate offensive season for Hernández, but a bounce-back season could very well be in order.
Kiké Hernández’s underlying offensive metrics are a lot more impressive than his traditional stats would suggest. He’s in the 84th percentile of major leaguers for max exit velocity, the 72nd for his strikeout percentage, and the 62nd for his chase rate. All of those are fairly good, especially considering the value Hernández brings defensively.
When it comes to defense, Kiké Hernández is as skilled as he is versatile, and he’s very versatile. He compiled a 4 DRS in games all over the diamond, 2 of which came while playing shortstop. He’s also very effective range-wise, to the tune of a 98th-percentile outfield jump.
All in all, Kiké Hernández is a really good player to have on a team and a fine starting shortstop on a lot of teams.
Adalberto Mondesi
Adalberto Mondesi currently isn’t expected to make the opening day roster due to an injured ACL from last season and could miss sometime around a week’s worth of games.
In his 358-game career, (Mondesi only played in 15 games in 2022 due to an ACL injury.) Mondesi has a .244 batting average, 38 home runs, a .204 OBP, a .344 slugging percentage, and an insane 133 stolen bases. Mondesi also has a career 4.3 WAR and an 82 OPS+.
The area of Adalberto Mondesi’s game that really shines is his defense. While he may have a flat 0 DRS in 262 total games at shortstop, his range and athleticism never cease to amaze. While playing defense, Mondesi is a player that can do it all. Throwing, fielding, you name it. When it comes to defense, he can excel at it.
Mondesiis definitely a fun player, but you can’t ignore the injury history for someone who’s only played in half of his team’s games.
Shortstop will definitely be a fun position for the Red Sox, and now that spring training is underway, it’s going to be interesting to see how the roster comes together.