FanPost

FANPOST FRIDAY: Surprise Predictions

Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

My outside the box prediction, that I'm sure would surprise anyone outside of Boston, is that JBJ will be in the MVP conversation.

Now, before we get too crazy, hear me out. Bradley is one of the best defenders in the league. Despite not being an annual Gold Glove recipient, I think pretty much everyone would agree it's true. He shows up consistently on the highlight reels, but his quick first step makes many other plays just look routine. Defense isn't going to get you into the MVP conversation though, so lets move on to the bat.

This is a guy who has never hit above .267, and that season was higher than his normal. Not the stats you normally see from an MVP kind of guy. But this is not your normal season. A 60 game season means someone can go on a hot streak and not leave it. Jackie is that kind of guy. Just last season, from May 20 to June 17, he was one of the best hitters in baseball. He had a 1.055 OPS, and was only behind Mike Trout for tops in the Majors. That included a .307/.396/.659 slash line, with 17 RBI and 16 runs scored and 7 HRs over 27 games.

Over the course of 27 games, he was the second best hitter in baseball and was still maintaining his defense. This year, that would be just about half the season. JBJ hasn't shown that he can keep it going for much longer than that. He finished 2019 with a .225/.317/.421 slash line and a .738 OPS which shows you how his cold streaks are often just as bad as his hot streaks are good. But with that said, I'm going to be an optimist, and predict that he will be more hot than cold, and do it at the right times to make an impact. The 60 game season will benefit him as much as anyone else in the league, just like a couple of Sox pitchers who could use their own hot streaks to have great numbers. But I'm going a little too far off the deep end at that point.