The “HOT” Seat, a weekly post on the player(s) that are “Hot” and the one(s) who are “NOT”. This will be a weekly column that will appear every Sunday. It has only been one week of spring training games but there have been a few highlights as well as lowlights.
HOT-spring training is more about the younger players getting their opportunity to show themselves off then, while the regulars work on their basics. Oscar Tejada, Jose Iglesias and Nick Spears are taking full advantage of their opportunities this spring. My nod goes to Oscar Tejada this week. Oscar was 7-13 at the plate for a .538 Avg, 2 triples and 6 RBI’s. Jose Iglesias continues to grow and will be more of a factor in 2012. Nick Spears a virtual unknown also shined this week. You can learn more about Nick by reading Katherine’s very good article right here on Bosoxinjection.
Other notables are: David Ortiz, Clay Bucholz, John Lester and Jonathan Papelbon. Good to see Big Papi swinging a good bat early. Lets hope this continues when the weather is cooler in Fenway.
Whose NOT: Carl Crawford, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youklilis are off to a slow start, but the pitchers are spotlighted this week. Daniel Bard and Daisuke Matsuzaka did not of weeks, the winner of this week’s “HOT” seat is Hideki Okajima. Unlike Bard and Dice-K, Okajima is battling for a position in the bullpen. He can ill afford to look as bad as he has. After non-tendering him a contract after last years poor performance, I was surprised to see them resign him under a new contract. Okajima will get plenty of more looks this spring, he alone will determine whether he makes it or not.
Other notables are the two walking wounded, Josh Beckett and JD Drew. Will they ever be fully healthy again? I know I have been down on Beckett lately, which is not like me considering he is one of my favorite players. Even though Beckett was pleased with his simulated outing, I am a little leery that this “mild” concussion wont linger on all season. I hope I’m wrong on this one
For all the latest news and analysis from BoSox Injection, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or with our RSS feed.
Original Story:
http://bosoxinjection.com/2011/03/06/...
