Red Sox Notebook: Kiké Hernandez not getting it done out of the leadoff spot

The Red Sox’ are scoring just 3.4 runs per game over their last eight games.

A rare slump from all three sluggers in the middle of the order has been a glaring reason for their sudden lack of firepower.

Here’s another: their table-setter hasn’t been setting the table.

Kiké Hernandez has been anything but an on-base machine this year. He entered Wednesday with a .234 average and .291 on-base percentage. Overall, the Red Sox’ .305 OBP out of the leadoff spot ranks 25th in baseball.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said it’s no longer the primary job of the leadoff hitter to get on base.

“The whole thing of taking pitches, grinding out at-bats from the leadoff spot, getting eight or nine pitches, it’s very hard because the stuff that you see, sometimes it’s three pitches and you’re out of there,” Cora said. “So what are we accomplishing? You have to take into consideration what you want, what the game dictates, put it into balance and see what you want.”

Cora said the more aggressive leadoff hitter is a product of the modern game. It worked for the Red Sox in 2018, when Mookie Betts hit leadoff for MLB’s best offense.

“It’s just a lot different now,” Cora said. “We can talk about who’s the best leadoff hitter in the big leagues right now. I mean, Mookie’s hitting .240. And we felt he was the best leadoff hitter two years ago, three years ago. So it’s just really hard right now.”

Hernandez isn’t your typical leadoff hitter in any era. He looks like he’s trying to hit everything out of the park but has just five home runs. He’s hitting a lot of flyballs (44%, a career high) and a lot of balls yanked to his pull-side (50%, a career high).

“He probably would be doing the same hitting ninth,” Cora said. “It seems like when he gets 2-0, 3-1, even 3-2, he wants to punish the ball, he wants to hit it in the air.

“Actually I had talked with (hitting coach Tim Hyers), who knows him from L.A., and he’s fallen into that trap throughout his career. It seems like his at-bats get better with two strikes, he’s a lot more patient, but then when the count flips to his benefit then he expands a little bit.”

Cora would much prefer Hernandez hit line drives to all fields rather than trying to lift everything into the left-field bleachers.

He entered Wednesday in an 0-for-20 stretch.

Take a walk

Taking pitches isn’t the Red Sox’ strength this season.

They rank 30th out of 30 teams with just 142 walks in 54 games this season, though they’re striking out at a below-average rate and their .317 OBP is ninth-best.

“I don’t think we’re going to go out there and try to walk because it’s not what you want to do,” Cora said. “You still want to be aggressive in the strike zone.”

Cora said they’re not winning the battles on the edges of the strike zone.

“We like to swing,” he said. “Our big boys, they like to swing too. But there’s certain situations that we talk about making contact, there are certain situations that the game will tell you, you’re not going to get a pitch to hit. So just make sure you zone in on your zone and if it’s not there just take a walk.”

Part-time role for Dalbec

Bobby Dalbec was back in the lineup Wednesday though he’s found it difficult to get in the lineup.

“It’s tough,” he said. “I’ve been talking with myself about just how to stay sharp. Just treating every day like I’m going to get in there, anything can happen.”

A strikeout machine this year, Dalbec is whiffing more than 98% of big league hitters while hitting .207 with a .646 OPS.

He’s been spending extra time in the batting cage and turning the difficulty all the way up on the pitching machines.

“I’m doing a lot of off-speed stuff, just trying to get that bottom wheel cranking so I can be more consistent with those pitchers who have high spin rates at the top of the zone,” he said. “That’s the game now, spin rate. Just working on that. I’ll try to walk it up. I’ll take four, five swings on it and take a couple steps forward, making it uncomfortable. I want that work to be extremely uncomfortable so the game will feel easier, to some extent.”

Working man

The Red Sox have one more day to make a decision on Brandon Workman, who opted out of his minor league deal Tuesday. The Sox can release him, trade him or call him up to the big leagues.

“He was going to throw a bullpen today but he’s not there, he opted out,” Cora said. “We still have 24 hours to make a decision. We’re going through the process, we’re talking a lot, where we’re at roster-wise, what benefits or doesn’t benefit us.”

Big day for Sale

Chris Sale threw 20 pitches off a mound on Wednesday and actually threw some breaking balls in that mix, a big step for a pitcher coming back from elbow surgery.

“I actually talked to Chris today,” Cora said. “He said the first slider he threw it against the backstop, the second one almost killed somebody and the third was a good one, so he’s making progress.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/34HnG42