Jackie Bradley Jr.

Boston Red Sox's Jackie Bradley Jr. comes out of the batting cage during baseball spring training in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, Feb. 13, 2017. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

(David Goldman)

FORT MYERS, Fla. - On some early mornings at JetBlue Park, Red Sox hitting coach Chili Davis meets Jackie Bradley Jr. in the backfields so Bradley can work on his right-handed swing.

It's something the lefty hitter has done for a while now.

"You work on one side so much it just helps balance out the obliques," Bradley said Friday. "You don't want to get one side so much stronger than the other so I want to keep my body as equal as possible."

When Bradley was younger he was a right-handed hitter so he considers his right side his natural side. He also throws right-handed.

Davis likes the approach.

"If I thought he had that ugly of a right-handed swing I would say, "No, no shut this down, you're wasting my time," but it's something I think that helps him to understand what he does lefty with his power hand," Davis said. "He takes good swings righty. It's part of his routine. He likes doing it. It makes him feel good about going into his practice so I welcome that with him."

Last season was by far Bradley's most successful in the majors. He hit .267 with an .835 OPS, 30 doubles and 26 homers. He struck out 22.5 percent of the time, down a noticeable margin from 27.1 percent in 2015.

Davis thinks the practice of swinging right-handed helped strengthen Bradley's lefty swing last season. As a right-handed thrower, Bradley might have been using his dominant hand too much with the lefty swing.

"That strong hand on the right side, that's the hand that wants to work and every time he rolls over on something he sees how much he's forcing it," Davis explained. "He's not using it the right way. So when he starts using it the right way he hits line drives. When he gets on the left side it's still that right hand but now it becomes the bottom hand and that's got to work the right way too, that's got to take the bat to the zone the right way and understanding that, you watch him and he applies it. When he gets to the left side you see that nice smooth path to the ball, left hand leading, getting that barrel over the zone and ball jumps off his bat."

Boston Red Sox first full-squad workout: Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez and others at JetBlue Park 57 Gallery: Boston Red Sox first full-squad workout: Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez and others at JetBlue Park

By swinging right-handed in the cages and batting practice, Bradley is forced to focus harder which in turn has helped from the left side.

It's not likely he'll use it in a game anytime soon. But he's not ruling it out either.

"I'm not sure they'll let me give it a try," Bradley said. "But I'm always working."

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