At what point do we start to trust baseball statistics? There are different answers for everyone, with some people waiting just a month and others preferring to wait until the All-Star Break. The longer someone waits to judge season stats, the more responsible they are. One thing is for sure, though: Eight games is not a large enough sample. I’m extremely confident in this. With that being said, trends are already happening this early in the season, and they’re worth looking into.

Just over a week into the 2016 campaign, the trends have been confusing for the Red Sox. Some nights, they look like a redux of the last two seasons, buoyed by a pitching staff that can’t stop a college lineup. Other nights, they look like a redux of the 2013 team that had some weird aura around them that prevented them from ever truly being out of a game.

The reality is we have no idea what this Red Sox team is right now, just eight games into the season. There has been one player in particular who has stood out when things have been going well for Boston this year, and it appears he’s yet again carved out a crucial role on the roster.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Brock Holt go on a hot streak like this, but it doesn’t make it any less exciting. Through his first 26 plate appearances of the season, the super utility player and 2015 All Star is hitting .333/.462/.714 with a .433 TAv. As of this writing, that makes him the 13th best hitter in baseball, though that should be taken with the largest grain of salt imaginable, considering it’s a group that’s led by Jeremy Hazelbaker and Tyler White. Still, he’s been really good at the plate, and that’s really the big point here.

Holt is a streaky player, and his hot streaks typically come early in the season.

Of course, as I said, we’ve seen this before. Holt is a streaky player, and his hot streaks typically come early in the season. Over the last two years, when he’s been playing on something close to an everyday basis, Holt has four months with an OPS of at least .800, and four months with an OPS no higher than .650. So, at some point he’s probably going to hit a slump. That’s what happens with streaky hitters, and it’s how Holt consistently ends seasons with league-average offensive production despite looking like a man possessed for weeks at a time.

That’s not to say the Red Sox and fans should be discouraged; it was just me getting the negative out of the way early. The fact is Holt’s numbers are good in the early going, and he looks good doing it (despite cutting his hair). He’s locked in at the plate, and he’s hitting everything hard in the early part of the season. Obviously, these numbers aren’t stabilized yet, but 60 percent of Holt’s batted balls have been line drives this year, the highest rate in baseball. On top of that, the remainder of his balls in play have been ground balls, which is a good recipe for racking up hits even if it might limit power in the long run. Clearly he won’t stay this efficient — no one could possibly keep up those rates — but it’s a good start. For what it’s worth, the early Statcast data agrees that he’s in a zone. Per Brooks Baseball, Holt’s hitting fastballs as hard as he did at any point last year, and he’s hitting breaking balls much harder than he ever has.

To finish off this point, Holt is also spraying the ball all over the diamond in an impressive manner.



Again, none of this is something anyone should be counting on all year, but they are real results and a little look into what makes a Holt Hot Streak.

Watching the Red Sox regularly, however, you know that offensive value is far from the only thing that Holt brings to the table. Once he does get on base, he’s done a fantastic job of providing value with his legs on the base paths, something he’s been able to do throughout his career. Although that baserunning prowess doesn’t result in gaudy stolen base numbers, he’s been one of the most valuable base runners per BP’s BRR metric in each of the last two seasons. It’s happening again in 2016, both by the numbers and anecdotally.

Then, of course, there’s the defense. This is the most valuable piece of Holt’s game, and it’s carrying over again in 2016. That’s not to say he’s an elite defensive player, because he’s not. However, he’s passable literally everywhere. So far this season, he’s logged most of his time in left field, and he’s done a really good job there. Obviously, it’s not the most difficult position on the diamond, but I have vague memories of a former middle infielder making a mockery of things out there in the recent past.

More importantly, Holt’s always able to shift around the diamond. That’s meant moving to third base this season. While this is likely his worst position on the field, he’s not a trainwreck, and the move allows John Farrell to utilize the bench in the most efficient way possible. Right now, it’s meant using Chris Young as a pinch hitter for Travis Shaw when a left-handed pitcher enters the game. Later in a game, Holt will usually shift back to left field as Pablo Sandoval comes off the bench when a righty is brought in to face Young. There is clear value in allowing the best situational hitters come into the game without worrying about defensive alignment in the next inning.

At least in the early part of the season, the more valuable part of this may be that it’s making a tough job for Farrell a little easier. However you feel about him as a manager, there’s no doubt he’s in a tough spot this year. He’s dealing with a potentially flawed team with huge expectations. On top of that, he has to juggle a strange bench with two big-money players occupying it. He has to keep players happy and put the team in the best position to win every night, as he’s managing for his job right now. None of that would be possible without Holt’s versatility.

At some point, Holt is going to stop hitting and he’ll disappear for a while. He’ll still be in games, granted, but he won’t be the player who stands out every night. And that’s fine. This is how things work with him, and the Red Sox will ride him as long as he’s crushing the ball like this. Nonetheless, Holt’s baserunning value is always going to be there, as is his versatility. Farrell has a tough task this year, and he’s going to need a lot of help along the way. Luckily, having Holt on his side will make things much easier.

Photo by Steve Mitchell/USA Today Sports Images