Since being acquired June 4, De Aza has played in nine of the team's ten games. He has had 23 PAs, hitting 182/217/227. On Sunday, he dropped a number of balls that a good fielder gets to. JBJ, meanwhile, has been hitting 335/406/497 in AAA. For those keeping score, that's by far the best OPS at Pawtucket, just 17 pts lower than Mookie's line last year and over 80 pts higher than Xander when he was called up. Bradley also offers the only chance for the Red Sox to make a highlight reel on Baseball Tonight.
But this isn't about Jackie Bradley Jr. This is about Rusney Castillo. The reason to play De Aza, it is said, is that we don't want JBJ called up only to languish on the bench. Except apparently we already have one promising young outfielder in that role, one who's getting paid over $70 million. Since De Aza was acquired, Rusney has had 25 PAs in 8 games, hitting 304/360/478.
So what exactly is Alejandro De Aza doing on this team?
(Edit: fixed Rusney's slash line thanks Snod)
But this isn't about Jackie Bradley Jr. This is about Rusney Castillo. The reason to play De Aza, it is said, is that we don't want JBJ called up only to languish on the bench. Except apparently we already have one promising young outfielder in that role, one who's getting paid over $70 million. Since De Aza was acquired, Rusney has had 25 PAs in 8 games, hitting 304/360/478.
So what exactly is Alejandro De Aza doing on this team?
(Edit: fixed Rusney's slash line thanks Snod)