Mike Lord a pro baseball scout remembers well what Xander Bogaerts was like as a 16-year old. Lord arrived in 2009 on the island of Aruba.
He traveled looking for possible baseball prospects and on the Caribbean island is where he first saw Bogaerts. He recalls that Bogaerts moved with ease at shortstop that someone at 16 did not usually do.
Lord added that something else, an intangible separated Bogaerts from the rest of his peers.
Bogaerts today is leading the American League in batting with a .359 average beginning the week.
In just his third full season in the bigs, the 23-year old Red Sox shortstop is however still just a kid.
People call Bogaerts refreshing as he wears his happy emotions on his sleeve and passion for the sport and life can be seen gushing from each pore.
His passion is unchanged regardless of his play. Last Friday and Saturday, the youngster set a new record for the Red Sox by having 4 hits including one home run in two straight games in Boston’s wins against Minnesota. His passion remained the same even when he made to costly errors in the Red Sox loss on Sunday to the Twins.
Bogaerts is coming off a recent hitting streak of 26 games, which is the second longest this season in baseball after the 29 game hitting streak by Jackie Bradley Jr. his teammate.
While Bradley always insisted his mind was only on the hitting streak when asked by the media, Bogaerts was quick to say that the hitting streak weighed on his mind often.
He said when he woke up each day he know he had the hitting streak and when he came to the field he knew it existed as well.
The first two at bats are not pressure filled, but if there are no hits when the 3 and 4 time at bat comes, the pressure really mounts, added Bogaerts.
Baseball is loaded with talented shortstops including Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Manny Machado and Addison Russell, but Bogaerts is likely having the best season of all of them.
David Ortiz, a bit biased of course, said Bogaerts is the game’s best shortstop.
He is now a legitimate star in the league, which is a world away from his playing on a rocky infield in Aruba.
