Bogaerts went 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two stolen bases in Tuesday night's 11-4 win over Atlanta. He has three steals in the past two games.
Bogaerts has the legs to steal bags -- he was successful 10 times in 12 stolen-base attempts in 2015 -- but hitting one spot ahead of David Ortiz in the batting order, Bogaerts the baserunner rarely gets the opportunity to steal a bag. It doesn't serve a purpose to steal -- if you get thrown out, there's one less run for Ortiz to knock in; if you're successful, the opponent is motivated to take the bat out of Ortiz's hands via the intentional walk. What was different about these last two games is that Boston was in a National League city and Oritz, a designated hitter by trade, was held out of the lineup. We don't expect to see a big uptick in stolen bases for Bogaerts, who stole just three all of last season when hitting out of the three-hole.