Friday, April 13, 2012

De Aza-mazing

When it became clear that Alejandro De Aza was going to be the starting center fielder and leadoff man for the Sox, concerned would be putting it lightly for I felt.

De Aza's career numbers are fine.  .280 batting average, .333 on base, fair amount of steals per games played.  But the fear came from the unknown.  De Aza's 152 AB's last year were the most of his career.  He had 144 back in 2007 with the Marlins, but between then he had 0 in '08, 20 in '09, and 30 in '10.

But through the first 5 games, he's been awesome.  2 HR's, 3 RBI, he's stolen a base, played solid D, and most importantly to me, he's started off 4 of the first 5 games with a hit.

The Sox have been so used to Juan Pierre atop the lineup.  He was fine when he was on, but he was terrible when he wasn't.  His base stealing was his best skill, but that faded as he aged.

De Aza is doing everything he needs to do at the top of this lineup.  He's getting on base, he's seeing a lot of pitches, and he's come up with a couple big HR's.

I wasn't expecting much out of the Sox this year, and to be honest I still don't, but if De Aza can keep playing the way he has been, the ceiling is a lot higher.

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