Okay, so since my last post, all of almost two days ago, I’ve been asked to write baseball articles weekly, which is a pretty awesome feeling.

As my girlfriend would say, I am constantly on my phone, at least now I’m doing something productive with it. So I’m just sitting here watching the Sox game and figure I have to work all week, so I might as well start my 2nd blog post now, because why not? So let’s do this.

For this blog I want to focus on the good, as opposed to the bad (injuries), from my last post. So let’s start with how awesome Mr. José Abreu has been for this team, as well as some other pleasant surprises we have seen so far this year.

José Abreu

Obviously, if you didn’t know it before, you do now. Abreu has some serious power. Which comes with being a 27-year-old ML rookie I suppose. This guy’s numbers in Cuba were pretty ridiculous. Including a year with 33 homers in just 66 games. Since his defection, and signing with the Sox, he hasn’t missed a beat. Before going on the DL, he led the league in home runs (15) and was 2nd in the league for RBIs (42). And even though he hasn’t played since May 18th, he’s still 2nd and 3rd, respectively, in the league in home runs and RBIs. Another awesome quality Abreu has is that he doesn’t bring any off-the-field drama. Abreu seems to have a humble and down-to-Earth personality, and it translates in the field and at the plate. One thing he does need work on is his plate discipline. There are times where he will swing blindly at everything. Once he shakes that off, we have ourselves a Silver Slugger for hopefully years to come.

I already wrote about Adam Eaton yesterday, who I honestly can’t speak highly enough of. He’s become my favorite Sox player to watch. But I talked about him already, so let’s move on.

Conor Gillaspie

I don’t know what has gotten into Gillaspie, but as I’m writing this he’s having a 4-4 day with two runs and two doubles, and his AVG is all the way up to an insane .352. Maybe it’s because he knows Matt Davidson is right around the corner in Charlotte, but it’s gonna be tough, better yet, stupid, to take any playing time from Conor. Not to mention Davidson hasn’t exactly been tearing it up, but I’ll consider this a AAA slump for now. If soon enough Davidson can start raking in AAA and eventually be called up, it’s gonna be tough to find room for him. This could be a temporary series of events, but if Conor can keep this up, I wouldn’t consider this to be a short-term solution whatsoever.

Daniel Webb

Although there hasn’t been many good pitching surprises this year (besides the obvious Chris Sale and even José Quintana), I’d say the best surprises so far have come from our younger talents in the bullpen. Webb has been about as good as it gets so far for the bullpen. 4-0, 2.39 ERA, what more can you ask for from a 24-year-old middle reliever? Many are looking for this kid to become our next closer, and it’s hard to disagree. As long as he gets his 20/18 K/BB ratio to a decent level. Other than that, there’s really nothing bad I can say about this kid. As the closer situation for this team continues to be a giant question mark, it’s nice to see young guys like Webb (24), Patricka (25), and Putnam (26), making a good name for themselves while we still figure things out.

I’ll do just one more player, although there are more that deserve recognition, I will keep it to two position players and two pitchers, or else this article will run on for far too long.

Andre Rienzo

Say what you will, but in my book Rienzo has been great under such short notice. Between Sale hitting the DL, Erik Johnson struggling and being sent to Charlotte, and Felipe Paulino doing what he does best (getting paid to suck), Rienzo came in and earned a spot in the rotation. Sure his ERA is 4.39, but I’d say this is respectable for our number 5, maybe number 4 starter. I was all for giving Noesi a shot as opposed to probably every other Sox fan who was against it, and I’m also man enough to admit when I am wrong. I’d say Rienzo has outperformed Noesi, Carroll, Johnson, and Paulino rather easily. With a 4-1 record, a 1.32 WHIP, and an 32/18 K/BB ratio, that’s about as respectable as it gets. I hope he can keep the job for the rest of the year, as there seriously is a shortage of options left. I’d really rather not see Dylan Axelrod again this year.

Well that’s all for me today. These are just 4 of many nice surprises so far this year. So far, I’d say the good has definitely outweighed the bad (lookin’ at you De Aza). And just as I finish writing this, the Sox pick up a solid 6-2 W. 26-27!! Keep it up, boys. Thank you for anyone interested enough in reading my material, and have a safe Memorial Day.