Alex Cora Has Serious Praise For Adalberto Mondesi
A few weeks back I wrote a column talking about how the Red Sox may have stolen Adalberto Mondesi. Boston has not found an adequate replacement to replace Xander Bogaerts. However, Mondesi somehow represented a chance to do so. It’s all untapped potential but there is potential nonetheless.
Spring Training is somehow here already and Red Sox manager Alex Cora got his first look at Mondesi. Blown away might be the best way to put it. It’s safe to say Cora liked his first impression of his new infielder.
“Wait till you see him,” Cora said here at the JetBlue Park complex Tuesday. “I thought he was like smaller. But he’s like Xander-esque as far as like tall, strong, big legs.”
“(Mondesí) was running yesterday and you can see it. He’s elite in speed,” Cora said. “He’s running at 70% and you can see it. Dynamic, good defender. We still have to work on the offensive side of it just to make sure he gets on base at a higher rate. But this guy, I saw one season his on-base percentage was .308 and he stole 24 bags so the stolen base aspect is real.”
“The defense is really good,” Cora said. “The offensive part of it, we’ll help him. He can bunt whenever he feels like. So we’re excited about it. We’ll use the three of them, you know, the right way when everybody is healthy. We’ve just got to make sure everybody’s healthy.”
Mondesi, 27, was acquired this offseason in a straight up swap with the Royals for Josh Taylor. A pretty low risk, high reward type of deal for Boston. If the Sox can somehow get Mondesi to hit, this acquisition just might end up working. I’m not sure any Red Sox fan should get overly excited yet. However, for Cora to even use Bogaerts’ name here is a really positive sign.
