Red Sox batting order has similar look to regular season
“It’s something I have envisioned and it just happened that for the first time in years, what you might see early is what you’re probably going to see on Opening Day,” stated Cora.
Story’s placement within the second slot is especially noteworthy. Last yr, Story was an aggressive swinger who emerged because the Red Sox’ foremost run producer, principally from the Nos. 4 and 5 spots. He led the staff with 25 homers and 96 RBI, however with a .308 on-base — wanting the .334 OBP featured throughout MLB within the No. 2 gap.
Cora pointed to Story’s ending kick over the past 4 months — a .287/.331/.494 line with 19 homers and 22 steals over the ultimate 103 video games — in addition to his mixture of energy and velocity and left/proper steadiness as the premise for his placement.
“What he did last year, the last [four] months, he was one of the best hitters in the big leagues,” stated Cora. “He’s going to be surrounded by lefties, which, at one point [the other team is] “probably going to bring a lefty for Roman and he’ll face a lefty and he can cash in.”
While Story bought simply 11 begins within the two-hole in 2025 (with 120 begins within the fourth by way of sixth spots), he has extra video games hitting second than every other lineup place, with star-level performances as a regular No. 2 hitter for the Rockies in 2019-20. He’s hoping to construct off the 2025 marketing campaign by returning to these profession peaks.
“I felt like I reset the baseline a little bit with what I can do as a player offensively. I know there’s another level for me in there, just to build off those last four months,” stated Story. “It gives me confidence. It gives me momentum. We surrounded that into the offseason and I’m excited to put a full season of that together.”
While Brayan Bello is working to incorporate a curveball into his combine this spring, his most urgent task is to re-establish the texture of his changeup. Throughout his skilled profession, Bello’s changeup was his greatest pitch — a lefty-neutralizing providing that yielded floor balls and swings-and-misses. But in 2025, he threw the pitch tougher than he had prior to now and it had much less depth, in the end lacking fewer barrels.
“The 91-92 [-mile-per-hour] changeup last year was a bad sinker, and I think lefties took advantage of it,” stated Cora.
What occurred?
“Last year I was working on adding a cutter [and] a sweeper, so I lost the feeling for the changeup,” Bello said through a translator. “This year I have both of those pitches locked in, [and] I was able to work on the changeup [in the offseason].”
In his first Grapefruit League outing on Sunday, Bello threw a changeup with barely much less velocity, much less spin, and extra sink than what he usually featured in 2025. Though his line — 1⅓ innings 4 runs, 4 hits, one stroll, two strikeouts — appeared poor, it was made worse by some well-placed mis-hits. Bello, whose fastball was principally 93-95 mph, expressed satisfaction along with his total combine, together with the changeup and a pair of curveballs he spun.
“I feel like it’s been a little bit of a challenge facing lefties in the previous years, and I feel that with these two pitches, I’m able to compete better against lefties,” stated Bello, who has been tagged by lefties for a .269/.347/.434 line in his huge league profession.
News of Team USA’s men’s hockey victory over Canada within the gold-medal recreation filtered on the backfields in Fort Myers, with hitting coach Pete Fatse and Story elevating their arms in triumph in the course of batting follow. . . The Red Sox honored the late Mike Greenwell —a Fort Myers native who passed away in October at age 62 — prior to Sunday’s Grapefruit League house opener. Greenwell’s spouse, sons, and grandchildren have been acknowledged on the sector, adopted by a second of silence. Greenwell’s former Red Sox teammates, Jim Rice and Dwight Evanstook half within the ceremonial first pitch.
Alex Speier may be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. comply with him @alexspeier.
