But there’s not much time for reverie in the middle of the action. Benintendi never knows when an opposing hitter’s swing might result in a big hop high off the wall, and he’ll have to spin and fire a no-look throw into second base and hope it’s accurate enough to erase the baserunner or make him retreat to first. Those are the daily challenges of playing in a historic landmark with the quirkiest outfield configuration in the majors.
Inspiration comes with a glance to his left — and another beyond that. Benintendi’s outfield cohabitants at Fenway Park set the bar awfully high.
As the Boston Red Sox move on from three straight losses at Tampa Bay in pursuit of a franchise record for wins, it’s easy to cite the addition of J.D. Martinez to the lineup, David Price ‘s resurgence in the rotation or any number of factors in the team’s success. But the subtleties also matter. Among the most prominent: The daily brilliance of the outfield contingent of Mookie Betts in right field, Jackie Bradley Jr . in center and Benintendi in left.
During a TV broadcast last month, Red Sox color man Jerry Remy opined that Boston’s “Killer B’s” play better defense than Dwight Evans, Fred Lynn and Jim Rice did during their peak in the 1970s. Rice, who was never known for his glove even though he became adept at playing the wall, shook his head in mock disdain in his role as a NESN studio analyst before conceding that, yes, the 2018 contingent is pretty good.
Statistically, the best outfields in the majors this year play in Milwaukee, where Lorenzo Cain , Christian Yelich et al have a defensive runs saved of plus-44, and Arizona, where A.J. Pollock , David Peralta & Co. have logged an aggregate plus-34. Boston’s group, in comparison, has a modest DRS of plus-15.
But these guys sure pass the eye test. Boston TV color man Dennis Eckersley, who played with Evans, Lynn, Rice and Carl Yastrzemski in the 1970s and ’80s, marvels at the way Bradley, Betts and Benintendi use their speed, arms, athleticism and communications skills to steal hits and change the course of games.
“In the future, we’ll see how great they really become,” Eckersley said. “But right now, defensively, it’s the best I’ve ever seen. I think everybody knows it around the league. It’s just another thing that makes this a great team.”
Adam Glanzman/Getty Images
NO GROUP APPRECIATES the impact of an airtight outfield more than Boston’s starting pitchers, who have the seventh-highest fly ball rate in the majors (37.6 percent, according to FanGraphs). During a recent 5-4 loss to Cleveland, Betts made a diving catch off Greg Allen . Two innings later, Benintendi laid out in left to steal another hit off Allen. In his next at-bat, Allen channeled his frustration and launched a homer into the Cleveland bullpen in a place where no one could reach it.
Attentive observers might have noticed Porcello waving toward right field and pointing after Betts’ play. This has become common practice among the Boston staff.
“When I was in Tampa early on, we had Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton and Desmond Jennings, so it was essentially three center fielders out there,” Price said. “But this group is very special with the way they run balls down and the catches they make. All three of them have plus arms, and they’re all accurate. I can’t tell you how many times they’ve cut balls down in the gap, or Benny will field a ball off the wall and keep guys to a single. And then you’ll look and see the pitcher holding his hands up and clapping. They all know how much we appreciate them as pitchers.”
Betts, who broke into pro ball as a second baseman before switching to the outfield in 2014, has already pocketed two Gold Gloves at age 25. He has a chance to show off his speed in the spacious right-field corner at Fenway, where Evans made one of the signature catches in team history to rob Joe Morgan in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series.
Betts’ arm is also a weapon. In 2016, he recorded 14 assists in right field. Last year that total slipped to eight, and this year it’s three. His reputation now precedes him.
“He’s the rare guy who takes his infield skills to the outfield, and it still works,” said Red Sox outfield coach Tom Goodwin. “He can get the ball and throw it back in with such a quick release, like an infielder, but there’s also plenty of carry. We talked about that in spring training. If the runner goes around first and he sees the ball in the air, he’s going to be careful so he doesn’t make that out at second base. Mookie gets rid of it as good as anybody.”
Betts’ catch-and-release skills were evident during a recent game against Baltimore, when Jonathan Villar hit a single to right field off reliever Matt Barnes and rookie speedster Cedric Mullins stopped at second base rather than risk getting erased at third.
“Mullins absolutely floats, and he didn’t go there because of the respect Mookie has,” Price said. “Teams talk about that in meetings — which guys they can try and run on and take that extra base. Guys don’t try it against us, and that’s huge. When you can keep a guy that fast off third base with one out and you’re still a ground ball away from getting a double play, it completely changes innings.”
Bradley, who has yet to win a Gold Glove, has a tougher road because of the surplus of elite center fielders in the American League. Cain cleared some space when he left Kansas City for Milwaukee through free agency last winter, but Kevin Kiermaier , Byron Buxton, Mike Trout and Kevin Pillar are all highly regarded defenders likely to be in the Gold Glove conversation if they’re healthy enough to play a full season.
“If Jackie was the center fielder for any other team in baseball, he would have a couple of Gold Gloves by now. You have the Monster in left center and it’s (390) to straightaway center in Fenway, so I think his defensive metrics kind of get hindered there. It’s fun when we go on the road and you see him play center field in a place like Detroit or Arizona or Kansas City, where there’s a lot of room in the outfield so he can just run like he does and all our outfielders can use their speed.”
David Price
The modern metrics show surprisingly little love for Bradley, whose plus-1 defensive runs saved total this season places him 19th among MLB center fielders, according to Baseball Info Solutions. He ranked seventh in the majors with a plus-10 last year thanks to a spike from three home run-saving catches.
The deeper, more granular analytics are a mixed bag. In the Baseball Info Solutions’ system, Bradley has converted 9 of 18 balls with a catch probability between 45 and 55 percent into outs. In comparison, Cain is 14-of-17 on those same balls in Milwaukee.
Bradley ranks second to Cain in FanGraphs’ ultimate zone rating this season, so it’s questionable how much his style is cramped from playing 81 games at Fenway Park. His teammates and the Boston coaches are perplexed that he’s not more widely hailed by the modern metrics.
“We always talk about it in our locker room,” Price said. “If Jackie was the center fielder for any other team in baseball, he would have a couple of Gold Gloves by now. You have the Monster in left center and it’s [390 feet] to straightaway center in Fenway, so I think his defensive metrics kind of get hindered there. It’s fun when we go on the road and you see him play center field in a place like Detroit or Arizona or Kansas City, where there’s a lot of room in the outfield so he can just run like he does and all our outfielders can use their speed. They catch a lot of balls.”
Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports
WHILE BOSTON’S OUTFIELDERS all run well, they’re not burners in the classic sense. Betts ranks 135th among 517 big leaguers this year on the Statcast sprint speed leaderboard, at 28.1 feet per second. Bradley is 181st at 27.8, and Benintendi is 212th at 27.6. Buxton, the fastest player in the majors, has a sprint speed of 30.5 feet per second.
In Bradley’s case, intuition and anticipation go a long way. He gets quick jumps, takes direct routes to the ball and has a rare knack for tracking a baseball without watching it. Goodwin saw a similar trait on display with Andruw Jones, one of his big league peers, and Juan Lagares , who played for the Mets when Goodwin was a coach with the team from 2012 to 2017.
“I always thought, ‘If they’re going to take my hits away, I’m going to take their hits away.’ If I don’t get a hit, you aren’t going to get a hit, either.”
Jackie Bradley Jr.
“It’s not something you can teach,” Gordon said. “Jackie has the ability to see the ball hit, turn his head and run to a spot, and 90-something percent of the time, he’s going to be right. I could do it maybe for a couple steps, then I had to look to make sure what I saw coming off the bat. Jackie will see it and take five or six steps, and he’ll look up and he’s right on it. That’s not an easy thing for any outfielder.”
Bradley developed the skill as a young player in his native Virginia and further honed it in college at South Carolina. He prides himself on making difficult catches look easy, but sometimes he can’t help himself. After Bradley robbed Tampa Bay’s Tommy Pham recently with a leaping grab, Kiermaier celebrated the play on Twitter.
“I knew at a young age that you’re a lot faster when you’re not keyed in on something and you can just focus on a spot,” Bradley said. “I worked on trying to anticipate where the ball was going to land. Every little bit counts when you’re in the outfield. I try to get there as quick as I possibly can and make last-minute adjustments when I feel like I’m in the appropriate area.”
In Bradley’s world, defense is as much a state of mind as a physical endeavor. Even when he was hitting .178 in late June and it was debatable how long manager Alex Cora would stick with him, Bradley maintained an aggressive defensive posture in center.
“I always thought, ‘If they’re going to take my hits away, I’m going to take their hits away,'” Bradley said. “If I don’t get a hit, you aren’t going to get a hit, either.”
Any outfielder who doesn’t subscribe to that mantra risks getting left behind in Boston. When Benintendi joined the big club in 2016, he studied all the bounces, hops and other intricacies of the Green Monster until they became second nature. Then the Red Sox would go on the road to, say, Yankee Stadium, and he was forced to play a completely different defensive game amid more spacious environs.
Early on, Benintendi received some helpful pointers from Rice on the art of left-field play at Fenway. That’s the old-school component of learning his craft. Like so many other clubs, the Red Sox have also embraced the new school. During games, Benintendi, Betts and Bradley consult positioning cards prepared by Zack Scott, Boston’s vice president of baseball research and development. The three outfielders are all at liberty to freelance a few steps here and there, but the cards help lay the groundwork for precious extra steps in the gap or at the warning track.
“We balked at first,” Goodwin said, laughing. “Me and my dinosaur ways, I finally had to come around and say, ‘OK guys, let’s put these in our back pockets.'”
When difficult plays become routine and fly balls keep landing in the Killer B’s back pockets, all the preparation and hard work are worth it. Boston’s outfielders have been so good this season, even the pitchers can’t stop cheering.
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