Fastball

Duvall Making Instant Impact For Red Sox

Adam Duvall, signed this offseason by the Boston Red Sox, hit two home runs over the weekend and is paying instant dividends for Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom and manager Alex Cora.
Brady Farkas|
Duvall Making Instant Impact For Red Sox
Duvall Making Instant Impact For Red Sox

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Boston Red Sox

When the Boston Red Sox signed free agent outfielder Adam Duvall this winter, the hope was that the Red Sox could turn him into the next Hunter Renfroe.

Renfroe, after all, played in Boston in 2021 and helped lead the Sox to the American League Championship Series. He hit 31 home runs and drove in 96 that year for the Sox and was a pillar in the middle of the order.

After three games, the returns on Duvall are that he could in fact end up being this year's version of Renfroe. The Sox signed Duvall to a one-year contract this offseason after he had a down year last year, hitting just 12 home runs in 86 games for the Braves. The hope that was they could get him back to his 2021 form that saw him hit 38 homers and drive in 113.

Duvall went 8-14 in the season-opening series with the Orioles. Through three games, he's hitting .571 with a .600 on-base percentage. He also hit two home runs over the weekend, including a walk-off on Saturday, and has three doubles.

His runs scored (6), home runs (2), doubles (3), triples (1) and RBIs (8) all tie or lead the league. Part of the reason he's been able to do so much damage is just his ability to hit the ball hard.

Brian Barrett of the Ringer reports that Duvall has seven hard-hit balls through games. A hard-hit ball is one defined as having an exit velocity of 95 MPH or greater. The harder you hit the ball, the greater chance for success you have and Duvall is seeing that in the early-going.

The Red Sox host the Pirates on Monday at 7:10 p.m. ET.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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