The Boston Red Sox are 29-28 and still struggling to hit the heights that they did last season, and are making a change to their lineup that they hope will make things look a bit more like 2018.
Manager Alex Cora announced Saturday that reigning AL MVP Mookie Betts will return to the leadoff spot, where he spent the majority of 2018. Current leadoff hitter Andrew Benintendi, who typically hit second behind Betts last season, will return to that role as well.
Cora: ‘I just talked to Mookie and told him he’s going to lead off for the rest of the season.’ Cora says that even beyond the numbers, he feels that Betts then Benintendi permits him greater strategic flexibility.
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) June 1, 2019
Cora: ‘I just told him and he was cool with it.’ The decision was ‘not that tough…There were certain things that we were able to do offensively last year with that combo that we weren’t able to do (this year),’ especially running.
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) June 1, 2019
Cora tried to fix what wasn’t broken, and it’s perhaps predictable that the top of the lineup will go back to what it was last season after two months of experimentation. Benintendi hasn’t hit as much in this configuration, and while Betts’ numbers are down a bit after a very slow start, he’s still been one of the team’s most productive hitters. Getting him a few more plate appearances atop the lineup makes a lot of sense.
