During Friday's game against the Baltimore Orioles, we saw a different version of Boston Red Sox star Xander Bogaerts.
The mild-mannered shortstop earned his second-ever ejection after arguing a called third strike in the 15-10 loss. He had a fair gripe as the pitch was just below the strike zone, but Bogaerts' outburst wasn't only about the blown call. It was the culmination of what has been a long, frustrating season.
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Bogaerts' 2022 campaign has been marred by uncertainty surrounding his future in Boston, the team's lackluster performance, and injuries that date back to May 20. Since then, when Bogaerts injured his wrist and shoulder in a collision with teammate Alex Verdugo, the 29-year-old hasn't been the same.
“It’s been unbelievable,” Bogaerts recently told The Boston Globe's Alex Speier. “I feel like I haven’t had an ‘A’ swing this whole year. It’s very frustrating when you know what you want to feel, but for whatever reason [you can’t]. At night, when you put your head on the pillow, I feel like I did everything I possibly could working on stuff, but just … I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on.”
Bogaerts received cortisone shots in the wrist and shoulder to reduce swelling, but the injuries have messed with his mechanics at the plate. In 78 games since the collision with Verdugo, he’s slashing .282/.361/.429 with six homers. Still solid numbers, but not up to par with his standards.
“I feel pretty OK,” Bogaerts said, via Speier. “The messed-up part with that is you start changing your mechanics, where you want to swing to where you don’t feel any pain or you don’t feel much pain. Then your swing starts changing.
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“Then when you feel good so you can get back, there are just so many bad habits that have been incorporated. That’s the frustrating thing. You can feel so good in BP and the cage, and as soon as the game starts, the first pitch you see, it’s like, ‘[Expletive], what the hell are you doing?’”
August has been an especially difficult month for Bogaerts. As the Red Sox lose ground in the American League wild-card race, the four-time All-Star has hit just .209 with a .582 OPS. Despite the slump, he's still among the league's best offensive shortstops with a .299 batting average and .370 on-base percentage through 116 games.
Bogaerts is expected to opt out of his six-year contract at the end of this season and become an unrestricted free agent. Last spring, the Red Sox reportedly offered him another year on top of the three he has left on his current deal for about $30 million, bringing his potential total to about $90 million. That figure is well below what he is expected to earn on the open market.