Who needs Mookie Betts when you’ve got Kevin Pillar, right? Maybe that’s what the Boston Red Sox are thinking.
The Red Sox and Pillar are close on agreeing to a contract, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported on Tuesday.
Pillar, 31, is an excellent defensive outfielder who most often plays center field. Though he’s a career .261 hitter, Pillar does have some pop and smacked a career-high 21 homers last season, giving him a .442 slugging percentage. The knock on Pillar as a hitter is he doesn’t walk much and has a .296 career on-base percentage.
The Red Sox would be set to have Pillar in the outfield along with Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Alex Verdugo. There have been rumors that they were looking to trade Bradley, which would make even more sense now. Pillar made $5.8 million in 2019.
