Alex Bregman went 3-for-3 in his Red Sox spring training debut, including blasting a two-run home run in the second inning.
Red Sox' Alex Bregman takes batting practice Feb. 20. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)Getty Images
He also crushed an RBI double off the top of the replica Green Monster in his third at-bat.
The Red Sox lost 8-7 over the Blue Jays on Sunday here at JetBlue Park after leading 5-2 entering the top of the ninth.
“We’ve been working hard on some mechanical things that I was doing early in my career that I kind of stopped doing the last few years,” Bregman said after coming out of the game.
Bregman explained the mechanical tweaks.
“I was a little more turned in and my hands were launching from a lot further back over the last few years,” Bregman said. “So we tried to kind of keep them inside my frame today and it felt good to square a few balls up.”
He said he’s been working hard in the cage with hitting coaches Peter Fatse, Dillon Lawson and Ben Rosenthal. He and the coaches figured out the adjustments together.
“I’ve kind of been feeling some different things mechanically over the last few years that I kind of wanted to get sorted out,” Bregman said. “They noticed the same things. Just trying to work on it and get feeling good before the start of the season.”
Manager Alex Cora added, “Today we had a meeting. The one-on-ones. And he talked about certain things he didn’t do last year offensively. He was off mechanically early on. His swing rate went up and he was chasing a little bit more. And he‘s just trying to stay behind the ball and see the pitch. It’s a different at-bat. He will take pitches. He will hit with two strikes. He’ll take his walks. He’ll swing less than most of the guys here, which is great. I think we needed that. And he’s going to balance the lineup.”
Bregman agreed to a three-year, $120 million contract with Boston earlier this month. It includes player opt-outs after the first and second seasons. Deferrals bring the average annual value of the contract to $31.7 million.
“It felt great. Obviously it’s good to get back out there,” Bregman said. “That first one you’ve always got a little jittery for every year during spring training. So it was nice to get out there. Yeah, good start.”
