Red Sox infield coach Brian Butterfield got his first look at the allegedly quicker first step of shortstop Xander Bogaerts Monday and believes he can see the difference, the Boston Herald reports.
"His first- and second-step quickness today was really good," Butterfield said Monday. "He's had days like that (before). It's always a full body of work."
Bogaerts, 22, spent the offseason working on his quickness at the EXOS Performance Institute in Phoenix -- at the suggestion of infield teammate Dustin Pedroia -- rather than train in his native Aruba. Butterfield has confidence Bogaerts can continue to improve defensively.
"Yeah I do, and I think I'm speaking for everyone else on the coaching staff, too, and that includes [manager] John Farrell," Butterfield said. "I think Bogie is ready to meet that challenge. The good thing is he's highly intelligent and he wants to be good, so he's going to do anything that he can to hold up his end of the bargain."
Butterfield also plans to work with Bogaerts on anticipating the pitch selection by studying the tendencies of the team's pitchers to help with positioning.
"One without the other, you're not going to be as good," Butterfield said. "When he gets to the point where he's consistent with both his anticipation and his first- and second-step quickness, he's going to be fine."
Bogaerts spent time at shortstop and third base last season but is expected to work exclusively at shortstop after the addition of Pablo Sandoval. The young infielder made half of his errors at third base in 2014 despite playing less than a third of his innings at the position.