Monday Morning Brushback: Mid-Season Mid

Are you in the right headspace to read something that might mildly annoy you?

It’s a Monday, which sucks enough in its own right. I don’t want to make your day a little more eye-roll-inducing than it already is. If you’re fine with taking that risk, take a look at this factoid that came across my desk after the Red Sox lost on Sunday at the hands of the Detroit Tigers:

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then that tweet is worth about a few dozen words…or however many I end up writing in this intro section.

That pretty much tells the story of this season in Boston, huh? Pure mid as we enter June.

A team that’s good enough to beat up on the cellar dwellers of baseball, but doesn’t possess enough quality to sit with the big boys (the Red Sox are 7-18 against teams with a record above .500). A team that’s persevered through an injury toll that looks more like the list of residents of an emergency room at any given time than a roster of professional athletes, but a group that has shot itself in the foot more than their fair share of occasions. A collective that has its standout moments from time to time–a few of which I want to get to–but one that doesn’t have any breakthroughs stick consistently. A team that can string together a few impressive victories to make you squint and see a path to potentially playing meaningful baseball in the fall (‘22 had the Phils and ‘23 had the D-Backs, why can’t ‘24 have the Sox?!), but a club that will immediately have you check any high hopes at the door the next day (oh, that’s why…).

Mid.

The master plan for the Red Sox as an organization has been laid out, and there have been developments during the first 60 games of the 2024 campaign that have suggested strides are being made: Wilyer Abreu’s emergence at the dish and in the field, overall strong starting pitching philosophies and performances, things of that nature. That’s all well and good, but the short term returns point to a summer of these ups and downs, ebbs and flows.

My unsolicited advice? To quote a few brothers from Manchester: you gotta roll with it.

You can take any win where you can get them at this rate and bemoan any setbacks that come our way. The mood is only gonna swing the exact opposite direction in due time anyways. The water will still find its level. I’m not saying that you have to accept these standards, because you shouldn’t. But once you realize that this current iteration of the Red Sox is simply mid–not a good team, not a bad team, just a mid team–it makes things go down just a wee bit smoother.

The glorious sun from the baseball heavens will shine upon the Fenway Faithful once again in the (hopefully) not-so-distant future. We’ve got that going for us, which is nice. In the meantime, let’s look at some standouts from this past week.

It’s Monday Morning Brushback Time, y’all.

Big Bernardino Brand

Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images

Lefty Brennan Bernardino has been stellar in the first third of 2024, and he continued his hot streak on the bump this past week.

He was called upon for a sixth inning high wire act in Baltimore on Tuesday, getting out of a bases drunk-no out situation without any birds scoring en route to an 8-3 win. Gotta love a nice Noble Tiger in a spot like that.

He then tossed two clean frames on Saturday to help bridge the gap to a 6-3 victory over the Motor City Kitties. The CV for Bernardino now boasts a staggering 0.72 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and a *checks* *checks again* *goes to the eye doctor for an exam* *checks one more time to make sure I’m not hallucinating* 584 ERA+.

Not bad for a guy who couldn’t make the Opening Day roster.

Bernardino isn’t missing a ton of bats and he’s walking a few more guys than you’d like to stomach, but he’s been effective in limiting damaging contact. He’s in the 95th percentile in hard hit percentage surrendered and 93rd percentile in average exit velocity, according to The Red And Blue Circles Website (I’m not sponsored by them, I swear). After seeing those metrics though, his success should come as no surprise. Hard to do any damage against a dude who’s initiating shitty contact, whether it’s on the ground or through a can of corn.

Part of what jumps out about Bernardino’s approach so far this season has been the incorporation of a new cutter to go alongside the sinker and the curveball. Those last two are his meat and potatoes, but any team worth their salt would love to have a guy who can mix in some horizontal movement to go alongside the vertical drop from the left side while changing speeds. That’s what pitching is all about. The pitch mix from Bernardino has led to opposing teams hitting south of .150 and slugging less than .175 against that trio of offerings.

Bernardino is a bulldog who can deliver in high leverage spots. He’s executing on his three-pitch approach. He’s an important part of the pitching staff at this point in time. Let the man cook.

Enmanu-Well Played

Welcome back to Boston, Enmanuel Valdez! The infielder was recalled from Worcester after Tyler O’Neill was placed on the injured list due to his current knee problem.

He rejoined the lineup with a bang over the weekend, with his duo of round trippers paired with a two-bagger being the driving factor in Saturday’s win at Fenway.

While the Sox couldn’t get the job done in extras on Sunday against Detroit, Valdez still chipped in a two-out ribbie to open the scoring thanks to a smooth piece of hitting.

With Vaughn Grissom going on the shelf (again) alongside Romy Gonzalez, Valdez will presumably be called upon for more action.

I think this comes at an interesting point for both the player and the team. Valdez will be looking to shake off a rough start to 2024 at the plate and get back to the form he displayed during his 149 plate appearances last year, when he logged a .764 OPS. The Red Sox have a plethora of middle infield talent within their system (Valdez, Grissom, Trevor Story, Marcelo Mayer, Nick Yorke, Ceddanne Rafaela at times, Bobby Dalbec depending on who you ask) and they can’t play all of them down the line. It’s great to have organizational depth that you can lean back on–I’d go as far as to say that it’s necessary–but decisions on this front will have to be made going forward.

So, you might as well find out what you’ve got in Valdez. Will he be a part of the long term blueprint? He’s under team control for the foreseeable future and he’s shown flashes of brilliance with the lumber during his young big league career. There’s only so many roster spots, though.

If Valdez is going to be sticking around in Boston, I’d like to see him work on the approach at the plate. To this point, we’ve seen a lottttt of strikeouts (69 in 251 MLB plate appearances) and nottttt a lot of walks (12 in the bigs). The three true outcome approach was so 2017.

But he’s demonstrated that he can draw free passes in the minors; that ability is in there somewhere. Strikeouts have always been a part of his game–he’s gone down by way of the K in about a quarter of his ABs in the minors–but he’s been able to get on base at a respectable clip in the past (.341 minor league OBP over the course of 564 games). Progression ain’t always linear, folks.

Valdez is still relatively young, and his service clock still hasn’t hit the one year mark. He’s found himself with an opportunity to prove to the team that he belongs here. It’s a situation to monitor as the season rolls along.

How Can You Not Be Romantic About Baseball?

Let’s round off this week’s blog with a tip of the cap to one Jamie Westbrook, who made his MLB debut with the Sox on Sunday. The 28-year-old waited 11 years to get the call to the show, and he was brought in as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning (don’t yell at me about who he came in for). He drew a walk in the situation, too, so literally no player in the history of baseball has gotten on base at a better rate than he has.

I’ll be honest with ya: I didn’t know who Jamie Westbrook was when I woke up on Sunday. Wouldn’t have known him if he walked into my crib and slapped me right across my stupid face.

But isn’t a story like his endearing? The guy was drafted by Arizona in the 2013 MLB Draft, had to deal with the ‘rona canceling an entire season of minor league ball, played in a makeshift league called the Constellation Energy League in Texas in 2020 that was formed due to the pandemic (for a team called the Sugar Land Lightning Sloths; fire name alert), and represented the US of A at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo the following year. All of that came amidst a minor league career that’s taken him all over the place. Listen to “I’ve Been Everywhere” by the late, great Johnny Cash–you’ll get an idea of where this guy’s baseball career has led him.

Yet all of that time, all of those years of work, brought him to Fenway this weekend.

Who knows how much of Jamie Westbrook we can expect to see at the highest level of the sport in 2024 and beyond. Maybe he’s only here for a short period of time. The point is: he was here. He’s in the Baseball Almanac now. He’s gonna be the answer for Immaculate Grid one day. He gets to say that he was a Major Leaguer. He made it.

We watch sports for a lot of reasons, but this is one that I have a soft spot in my heart for. This is just a really cool situation, and I think any fan of this game would be able to appreciate that.

Congratulations to Jamie Westbrook…now keep getting on base for us, will ya?

Song of the Week: “B.O.B” by Outkast

With Atlanta coming into town this week, now’s as good a time as any to put some Three Stacks and B-I-G B-O-I into your life.

Same time and same place next week, friends! Go Sox.