When Will Middlebrooks was on the disabled list with a back injury there was speculation that the Red Sox might keep him in the minors even after he got healthy.
They didn’t, activating Middlebrooks from the DL like normal two weeks ago, but now after just four hits in 29 at-bats they’ve decided to demote the 24-year-old third baseman to Triple-A.
Brandon Snyder was called up to take Middlebrooks’ place on the roster, but the Red Sox figure to use Jose Iglesias as their primary third baseman. Projected to be a terrible hitter based on his minor-league track record, Iglesias has hit .426 with a 1.044 OPS through 33 games this season.
After a strong rookie half-season Middlebrooks has hit just .192 with an ugly 60/9 K/BB ratio in 53 games this year for a dropoff of more than 200 points of OPS.
