The Red Sox offense is going to be super good this year.
This isn’t a unique thought, of course, as pundits and projections agree on this. Still, it’s nice to think about every once in a while. John Farrell is going to have the opportunity to pencil two big new names into the lineup every day this year in Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval. They’ll be playing alongside mainstays David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia, as well as high-upside youngsters Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts. The revolving door in right field with Shane Victorino, Rusney Castillo, Allen Craig and Daniel Nava should also provide some serious punch.
Long story short, this lineup is bursting with big names at every position besides catcher, and it’s gotten to the point where individuals can be easily forgotten. That’s unfortunate, because it’s causing people to forget that Mike Napoli is still here continuing to be one of the most underrated lineup fixtures in the game.
When you think of the best hitters in baseball, Napoli doesn’t come to mind despite his past success. It makes sense. He’s only made one All-Star team, he’s never won a Silver Slugger, and most importantly, he’s a low batting average player. He’s hit over .300 just one time, and over .260 only once more since becoming a full-time player in 2009. That’s not going to grab a lot of headlines, and Napoli himself is only projected to hit sixth in Boston’s stacked lineup this year. Red Sox fans know him, though, and Napoli would be talked about much more heading into meaningful games if it weren’t for all the other huge names surrounding him.
Napoli came to Boston on a one-year deal before the 2013 season and he has proven to be one of the best signings of Ben Cherington’s tenure. In the two seasons he’s spent with the Red Sox he’s hit .254/.365/.453, good for a 126 OPS+. He’s hit 40 home runs and 58 doubles in 258 games, giving him an average of 26 HR and 37 2B per 162 contests.
Those numbers place him as one of the better hitters in the game over the last couple of years. Of the 192 players who have accrued at least 800 plate appearances since the start of Napoli’s tenure in Boston, he is tied for 36th in OPS+, besting players like Anthony Rizzo, Bryce Harper and Albert Pujols. His .199 ISO is the 26th best among that group, and ranks higher than the respective ISOs of Adam Jones, Yasiel Puig and Yoenis Cespedes. What is underrated about Napoli is that he’s not just a power hitter. Despite the low batting averages and high strikeout rates, he’s great enough at drawing walks to become a high on-base player. His .365 OBP since joining the Red Sox ranks 26th among those 192 players, tying him with Christian Yelich. He’s actually gotten on base at a better rate than guys like Josh Donaldson, Ben Zobrist, Dustin Pedroia and Jason Heyward. He’s a borderline top-25 player both in terms of power and patience despite his unique profile.
Now, there’s an intriguing chance for even more offensive prowess from Napoli. We learned this past winter that the nine-year veteran had been playing the better part of his career with a sleep apnea condition that made it impossible for him to get a good night’s sleep. All of us can relate to the feeling of going to work after a night of restless sleep. Now, imagine that feeling except you never got that good night’s sleep to balance things out, and you also hit 95 mph fastballs with movement for a living. Maybe it’s just me, but that seems a tad difficult.
Luckily for Napoli – not only for his baseball career, but for his life, because his condition sounded brutal – he had corrective surgery over the offseason. The surgery was a bit disturbing, and you can read the gory details here if you’d like, but the results could be amazing. From that same story linked above, Napoli says, “It worked. I’m getting better sleep. I wake up at six every morning and start my day. I can’t remember the last time I’ve done that.”
That’s a good sign that he is finally getting the proper rest every person needs, and it’s impossible to quantify just what that could mean for his game moving forward.
There are almost too many reasons to be excited for this Red Sox offense, and that makes it easy to forget about some key contributors. Napoli has fit that profile for almost his entire career, and finds himself in that position again. On a per-game basis, he’s been one of the better bats the sport has had to offer since coming to the Red Sox, and that’s despite some alarming outside forces. With external forces fixed heading into 2015, we could see a new man this year. And that should scare opposing pitchers as much as any other aspect of Boston’s lineup.
Photo by Kelly O’Connor, sittingstill.smugmug.com