For fans of the Boston Red Sox, the first half of the 2024 regular season certainly has provided some excitement. The team finds itself in a playoff position, as the second half begins with a three game interleague series out West against the Los Angeles Dodgers this coming Friday night.
After taking two of the three games last weekend over Kansas City prior to the All-Star break, Boston (53-42) is two games up on the Royals for the third and final wildcard in the American League, 1/2 game behind Minnesota for the second wildcard, and 3.5 games behind New York for the top wildcard spot. After many national talking heads picked the Red Sox to finish last in the AL East and no better than a .500 record, the club also sits just 4.5 games behind Baltimore for first place in the division.
Below Chris Lessner and Marc Calnan will grade each player that have helped Boston to a successful first half-
Catcher Connor Wong (.307 average, eight homers, 32 RBI)- Chris grade B+, Marc grade A
Catcher Reece McGuire (.220, three homers, 18 RBI)- Chris grade C-, Marc grade C-
Third base Rafael Devers (.295, 23 homers, 61 RBI)- Chris grade A, Marc grade A+
Shortstop/centerfield- Ceddanne Rafaela (.246, 11 homers, 52 RBI, 11 stolen bases)- Chris grade B, Marc grade A
Second base/shortstop- David Hamilton (.274, five homers, 17 RBI, 23 stolen bases)- Chris grade A, Marc grade A
First base Dominic Smith (.233, five homers, 28 RBI)- Chris grade C, Marc grade C
Leftfield Tyler O’Neill (.252, 16 homers, 31 RBI)- Chris grade C, Marc grade B
Leftfield/rightfield Masataka Yoshida (.260, four homers, 24 RBI)- Chris grade C, Marc grade C-
Leftfield/rightfield Rob Refsnyder (.302, four homers, 21 RBI)- Chris grade C, Marc grade C
Centerfield Jarren Duran (.284, 10 homers, 41 RBI, 22 stolen bases)- Chris grade A+, Marc grade A+
Rightfield Wilyer Abreu (.265, eight homers, 29 RBI)- Chris grade B, Marc grade A
Starting pitchers-
Tanner Houck (8-6, 2.54 ERA)- Chris grade A+, Marc grade A+
Kutter Crawford (6-7, 3.04 ERA)- Chris grade B, Marc grade A
Brayan Bello (10-5, 5.32 ERA)- Chris grade C-, Marc grade D
Nick Pivetta (4-6, 4.18 ERA)- Chris grade C-, Marc grade C
Cooper Criswell (3-4, 4.03 ERA)- Chris grade C-, Marc grade D
Relief pitchers-
Kenley Jansen (3-1, 2.16 ERA, 19 saves)- Chris grade A+, Marc grade A+
Greg Weissert (2-1, 4.39 ERA, four holds, one save)- Chris grade C, Marc grade C-
Brennan Bernardino (3-2, 1.69 ERA, seven holds)- Chris grade A, Marc grade A
Justin Slaten (5-2, 3.38 ERA, 10 holds, one save)- Chris grade B+, Marc grade B
Chris Martin (2-1, 3.42 ERA, 10 holds)- Chris grade B-, Marc grade C-
Cam Booser (1-2, 2.90 ERA, three holds, one save)- Chris grade C, Marc grade C
Zack Kelly (3-1, 1.78 ERA, four holds)- Chris grade B-, Marc grade C
Chase Anderson (0-1, 4.59 ERA, three saves)- Chris grade D, Marc grade C
Josh Winckowski (2-1, 3.27 ERA)- Chris grade C-, Marc grade D-
Manager Alex Cora- Chris grade A+, Marc grade A+
Pitching Coach Andrew Bailey- Chris grade A+, Marc grade A+
The Red Sox sent three players to the All-Star game on Tuesday night in Duran, Houck, and Devers. Devers decided to stay back and not play in the Midsummer Classic, while he gets his banged up left shoulder ready to go for the second half of the season. Houck gave up three earned runs by allowing a three-run homer to Shohei Ohtani in his one inning of work, while Duran earned MVP honors by hitting a game winning two-run shot in the fifth off Hunter Greene in a 5-3 American League victory.
Boston has six games against the NL West to begin the second half with the three against the first place Dodgers (56-41), and then three in Colorado with the last place Rockies (34-63). They’ll return to Fenway Park on Friday, July 26 for a six game homestand against the NY Yankees and Seattle Mariners. If the first half was indication, this team should continue to be fun over the final 67 games of the regular season as the pennant race heats up.
Photo by Marc Calnan during a Red Sox-Padres game at Fenway Park on June 29th
