Much time and energy has been spent speculation when Bogaerts, the Red Sox’ top prospect, will be called up to the big leagues. While DiSarcina has been quite impressed with the 20-year-old shortstop training at third base, he did say Bogaerts “needs to marinate a bit more, he needs to have some seasoning.”
“This kid has so much going for him,” DiSarcina said, comparing him to Angels star Mike Trout more than once. “He’s such a great asset, a personality on the club. If you walked into this clubhouse and you told him, ‘Hey, Xander, we’re going to go play baseball on the moon today,’ he’s the first one on the ship.”
DiSarcina did, however, echo the sentiment John Farrell has of late: Bogaerts remains a work in progress, particularly with his defense. He needs to know where to be for relay throws, when a hit is a sure double and other fundamentals. The best thing for him at this point is more reps.
One of the questions surround Bogaerts is whether or not he, at 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds, will stick at shortstop. To that, DiSarcina compared the situation to two other big-bodied shortstops, Cal Ripken Jr. and Derek Jeter.
“It’s more than just hitting. He has to work on his baserunning, he has to work on his defensive stuff, his angles to baseballs, his decision-making. You can’t replicate that stuff in practice or in early work or those types of things. He has to play. He has to be in games. He has to be in situations.
“He’s been impressive, and for me watching him defensively, he’s a lot further along than I thought he was coming up from Portland. He’s just inconsistent in some of his decisions, but over the last 10 days he has gotten better.”