MLB Player News

Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts was the only bright spot on offense Monday night against the Indians.

Bogaerts launched a two-run shot off reliever Bryan Shaw in the eighth inning. He added a singled and finished 2 for 4 with a run scored and two RBI in a 3-2 defeat. He is hitting .300 with four homers and 15 RBI in 203 at-bats.

Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts continued to flourish in the second hole Friday night against Tampa Bay. He smacked three more hits, including an RBI double in the seventh inning that tied the game.

Bogaerts is 14 for 35 with four doubles since the elevation in the lineup in raising his batting average from .279 to .304.

It's nice to finally see Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts go on a hot streak since Fantasy owners were losing a little faith in the 21-year-old infielder following a slow start. He's batting .355 with a .565 slugging percentage and .985 OPS in his last 16 games, which has given Red Sox manager John Farrell the opportunity to move him up to second in the batting order.

It's not surprising Bogaerts is doing his best work against fastballs. He's batting .333 with a .513 slugging percentage and .396 BABIP against fastballs this season, per BrooksBaseball.net. He's also doing well with offspeed pitches, batting .316 with a .429 BABIP. Though, he's having trouble with breaking pitches, batting .143 with a .261 BABIP. Perhaps it's not too shocking to see a young hitter struggle with major-league breaking pitches, but at least he's performing well against fastballs and offspeed pitches.

Bogaerts is a special talent and should be a standout Fantasy player one day. It's encouraging to see him batting second. He should see some good pitches hitting in front of Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz. I did move him up in my rankings at shortstop and third base, and hopefully this is the start of his breakout run.

Red Sox infielder Xander Bogaerts picked up three hits Wednesday against the Braves.

Bogaerts reached in his first three plate appearances. He walked his first time up, added a double his second time up and singled his third time up. After striking out in his fourth at-bat, Bogaerts came back and hit another single. He finished the game 3 for 4, with one run scored and no RBI.

Bogaerts is hitting .287/.383/.414 in 181 at-bats.

As expected, Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts is in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Rays.

Bogaerts exited play Saturday with a hamstring cramp, but he said after the game the crap disappeared once the trainers worked on his leg. He has hit .279/.370/.406 with three home runs and nine RBI in 165 at-bats.

Red Sox infielder Xander Bogaerts expects to play Sunday after exiting Saturday's game with a hamstring cramp, MassLive.com reports.

Bogaerts said that the trainers worked out his cramp after he was removed from Saturday's game, so he should be good to go for Sunday provided it doesn't return. He has hit .279/.370/.406 with three home runs and nine RBI in 165 at-bats.

Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts was removed from Saturday's game against the Rays due to a cramp in his right hamstring, the team announced.

Bogaerts was 2 for 5 and scored a run before being removed in the bottom of the 11th. He appeared to injure the hamstring in the top of the 11th inning while striking out. Bogaerts has hit .279/.370/.406 with three home runs and nine RBI in 165 at-bats.

John Farrell defended his scrambled lineup Friday for his Red Sox team that owns the longest losing streak in baseball at seven games.

The starting nine features Brock Holt and Xander Bogaerts in the first two spots with Dustin Pedroia batting third and David Ortiz fourth.

"(I'm) looking for added length," he told the team website. "We haven't been able to gain continuity."

Farrell also cited quality at-bats from Holt and Bogaerts recently. The former has five hits in his last nine at-bats while the latter has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games to raise his batting average from .252 to .282.

Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts tied a season-high with three hits Wednesday against the Blue Jays. He had two doubles, one RBI and one run.

Bogaerts has hit safely in eight of his last nine games. He's batting .394 (13 for 33) with one triple, one home run, three doubles and three RBI in that span.

“I have been hitting the ball pretty well lately but with no results,” Bogaerts said, per the Boston Herald. "Hard hit line outs, hard hit ground balls and deep fly balls and I’ve been driving the ball. I came in here today pretty excited to be in the lineup and just try and help my team."

Bogaerts has raised his average from .252 to .283 during his latest hot streak.

"It’s just some little stuff because I had been fouling off too many balls," Bogaerts said. "I kind talked to the hitting coach like what I was feeling and we kind of agreed on what it was. It was something that needed fixing and I fixed it. Guys are throwing me a lot of first-pitch strikes and I’m changing my approach sometimes."

Though the Red Sox signed Stephen Drew Tuesday to be their primary shortstop, Xander Bogaerts' playing time isn't in jeopardy. He already has experience at third base, having played there down the stretch last season, and the Red Sox are without starting third baseman Will Middlebrooks at the moment.

And the truth is they weren't missing much with Middlebrooks sidelined by a broken finger. For the second straight season, his batting average has hovered around the Mendoza line. Considering his swing-at-anything approach doesn't exactly mesh with the organizational philosophy, he needs to perform to stay in the Red Sox's good graces.

Bogaerts hasn't set the world on fire himself, but at least he's reached base at a .369 clip. As important as he is to the Red Sox's future, he'd have to fall into a deep slump between now and Middlebrooks' return to be the odd man out.