The Boston Red Sox injected their roster with more top-end talent this offseason, which means some guys who saw opportunities in 2024 will be on the outside looking in this season.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow made a lot of fans happy this winter by bringing in studs like Garrett Crochet and Alex Bregman. Suddenly, Boston looks like a contender again, at least on paper.
Although the Red Sox have struggled by their standard over the past couple of seasons, one silver lining to their underperformance has been the playing time it afforded certain fringe-big league players like infielder Nick Sogard.
Sogard made his Major League Baseball debut last season for Boston. It’s always an inspiring experience to watch a player like Sogard make it to the show after years of grinding.
At the end of the day, though, the 2025 Red Sox are going to be all about winning, which means there won’t be a ton of time or need for feel-good narratives like Sogard’s.
Sogard is talented enough to contribute to an MLB roster in 2025, but it might not be in Boston. On Monday, BoSox Injection’s Miles Houston predicted that Sogard won’t make the team this year.
“Sogard, 26, only appeared in 31 games for the big league club in 2024,” Houston wrote. “He put together a slash line of .273/.326/.325 to go along with an 82 OPS+ and 81 wRC+. While these numbers are not terrible, Sogard is in a tough spot, as the Red Sox have a bevy of talent in the middle infield.”
“With the likes of Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell waiting in the wings, Sogard appears to be the odd man out.”
It’s a shame that Sogard finds himself on a roster full of middle infielders. He took full advantage of his opportunity last season and didn’t allow jitters to get in the way of production as he stepped up to the big stage.
Sogard deserves another chance to play every day somewhere.