Red Sox Fan Favorite Slugger In Position Battle With WBC Star As Opening Day Nears
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The Boston Red Sox's Opening Day roster will be decided in the coming days but a few questions remain.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora named Kutter Crawford to the rotation and added that Josh Winckowski will make the team as a long reliever in place of the recently injured Wyatt Mills. While the pitching staff comes into focus, the position player spots have yet to be filled.
The most interesting battle remaining in camp would be for the utility role. The spot will either go to fan-favorite slugger Bobby Dalbec or World Baseball Classic Pool-A MVP Yu Chang.
Dalbec has the tools to become an offensive weapon but has yet to put it all together -- or even show any signs of improvement -- entering his age-28 season. The right-hander's 34.9% percent strikeout rate is enough to infuriate even the calmest Red Sox fan. Given Dalbec's 39% strikeout rate in spring training, we can assume those numbers are not going to improve this season.
That said, Dalbec has been a serviceable player through his first three seasons in the big leagues. He's posted a .232 average with 95 extra-base hits including 45 home runs, 133 RBIs a .754 OPS, 101 OPS+ and 0.1 WAR over his 273 games with the Red Sox.
Cora claims that he is comfortable playing Dalbec all over the infield, including shortstop and second base.
On the other hand, we have Chang, who has not produced much at the major league level but just showed his propensity to shine on the big stage in the WBC.
Chang hit .438 (7-for-16) with two doubles, two home runs, eight RBIs and a 1.438 OPS in just four games for the Chinese Taipei.
On top of his recent rise into relevancy, Chang is a much better defender than Dalbec. To make matters more complicated, Chang has battled visa issues since the WBC ended. He's scheduled to be back in Fort Myers on Thursday but has not played in over a week.
The likelihood is that Dalbec makes the initial roster but it'll be interesting to see who earns the nod when Chang is back up to speed.
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