Why Alex Bregman's Strong Red Sox Debut May Point To A Monster 2025 Season

Let the dream start carry over...

Feb 23, 2025; Fort Myers, Florida, USA; Boston Red Sox infielder Alex Bregman (2) connects with the ball for a double in the fourth inning of their game against the Toronto Blue Jays at JetBlue Park at Fenway South. Mandatory Credit: Chris Tilley-Imagn Images | Chris Tilley-Imagn Images

Evaluating what matters during spring training baseball isn't a perfect science. Everyone is working on different things, and until the games count, one should never get too high or too low.

With that said, it's hard to imagine Alex Bregman's first experience in a Boston Red Sox uniform going a lot better than it did. And more importantly, there's reason to believe the success he had could translate to the season ahead.

Bregman, the two-time All-Star third baseman who signed a three-year, $120 million contract with the Red Sox earlier this month, went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with a home run, a double, and two runs batted in.

And although the game didn't count in the standings towards the Red Sox making the playoffs, Bregman still provided reason to believe that the positive results were a sign of even better things to come.

“We’ve been working hard on some mechanical things that I was doing early in my career that I kind of stopped doing the last few years,” Bregman said after the game, per Christoper Smith of MassLive.

“I was a little more turned in and my hands were launching from a lot further back over the last few years. So we tried to kind of keep them inside my frame today and it felt good to square a few balls up.”

Since the start of the 2023 season, Bregman has just a .446 slugging percentage and 120 OPS+, well below his career averages of .483 and 132. He has still racked up 9.0 rWAR during that time frame, so if he has a bounce-back to his early-career stats, or even something a tick below, the Red Sox could see a massive return on their $40 million annual investment.

Of course, there's still a lot to figure out with Bregman in the near and distant future: where he will play on defense and whether he will opt out of his contract after year one. But everything will get easier to stomach for the Red Sox this year if Bregman is launching balls over the Green Monster.

More MLB: Red Sox GM Craig Breslow Breaks Silence On Rafael Devers-Alex Bregman 3B Issue