The Boston Red Sox sit Andrew Benintendi to keep J.D. Martinez‘s bat in the lineup against the Dodgers:
Martinez led the American League with 130 RBIs in the regular season and was second in both batting average (.330) and home runs (43). He’s hitting .333 with 13 RBIs in the playoffs.
Benintendi, hitting .283 in the postseason, went 4-for-5 in Game 1 against the Dodgers but 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in Game 2. The decision to sit Benintendi allows the Red Sox to keep ALCS MVP Jackie Bradley Jr. in center field and leadoff man Mookie Betts in right.
This is probably the best defensive alignment to keep Martinez in the lineup. When the three Bs are in the outfield, the Red Sox have three fast, skilled outfielders. Having just two is still great. Bradley and Betts can shade a bit toward leftfield to make up for Martinez’s lack of range. The Red Sox used to do this when Manny Ramirez played leftfield, and that worked out pretty well.
from baseballmusings.com https://ift.tt/2PrLClQ
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