Two games in, you can’t get a great idea of what’s going on with a team.
Let’s be honest, spring training gives fans a taste of baseball, the same way O’Doul’s gives you the same taste as beer but not the full effect. Watching it doesn’t tell you much in terms of ERA and batting average predictions. It shows you a little bit. But it never told us Jackie Bradley Jr. wouldn’t hit in 2013. It also didn’t prep us for something you can be a little concerned about this early in the Red Sox season.
During the spring, Mitch Moreland played some clean baseball. But if we’re really nitpicking early in the season, you could go ahead and say Moreland started off the year at 0-for-9 with five strikeouts. Sure, he almost hit a bomb Wednesday and it would’ve been out at nearly any other park or even at Fenway if it wasn’t 40 degrees, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, as they say.
What’s important here is the Red Sox won those two games and you must know now that statistically, Moreland is going to have a slow start to the season. He’s in the hole nine at-bats, so that essentially means he’s going to have a pretty low batting average for at least the first few weeks. Keep that in mind come May–unless he’s hitting like .112, then maybe it’s time to panic. Otherwise, give him the same courtesy you’d give any pitcher adjusting to Boston.
Also remember: there’s not much else the Red Sox can do at first base at the moment. Hanley Ramirez didn’t get his work in there during the spring. Give him time and see how it goes. If not, give Sam Travis some time in Triple-A and see how he goes.