Red Sox: Xander Bogaerts, Dustin Pedroia among best middle infield duo's
After a few years playing next to each other with the Boston Red Sox, are Xander Bogaerts and Dustin Pedroia the best middle infield duo in baseball?
It has been three full seasons now where Xander Bogaerts and Dustin Pedroia have patrolled the middle infield together for the Boston Red Sox. We have all seen multiple double-plays turned between the two and the chemistry just seems to keep growing.
But with the regular season upon us, can we rank Bogaerts and Pedroia as the best middle infield duo in all of Major League baseball?
MLB.com writer Ian Browne talks about how the “Pedroia-Bogaerts tandem gives Boston certainty in the middle infield” and Pedroia regaining his excellent defensive status.
“Pedroia’s biggest improvement was on defense, where he regained his status as one of the best at second base, finishing as a finalist for the American League Gold Glove Award.” Browne said. “He led AL second basemen with a 12.5 Ultimate Zone Rating, up from 2.1 the season before. He tied Ian Kinsler for the AL lead with 12 Defensive Runs Saved.”
Browne later talked about Bogaerts and how he needs to work on his consistency throughout the entire season.
“Then there is Bogaerts, who is only entering his age-24 season. The one thing he lacked last season was consistency.” Browne said. “He was one of the best hitters in the AL in the first half (.329/.388/.475), but he had a significant drop-off after the All-Star break (.253/.317/.412).”
Although Bogaerts showed some inconsistency offensively during the second half of the season, his defensive production improved dramatically from the previous two seasons as the everyday shortstop.
After starting his career as the everyday second basemen in 2007, it’s nice to finally see Pedroia playing with the same shortstop for multiple years.
Whether it was Julio Lugo, Jed Lowrie, Marco Scutaro, or Mike Avilés, Bogaerts is the first player that Pedroia has played beside for multiple years. From the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like the duo will be splitting up anytime soon.
Now I know that if you want have a good team, you’re going to need more than just a successful middle infield duo, but it is mightily important for the two to work well together.
Along with the Red Sox, whether it’s the Cubs with Addison Russell and Javy Baez, the Indians with Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis, or the Nationals with Trea Turner and Daniel Murphy, you’re beginning to see that the teams going deep into the playoffs have two middle infielders with unbelievable chemistry together.
With only a month away until Bogaerts and Pedroia report to Fort Myers, they seem ready to show their full potential working together in 2017.
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