Red Sox: Christian Arroyo Goes Yard Twice in Mammoth Spring Game

Yesterday I sat here singing the praises of Enmanuel Valdez and his hot spring. The thought of adding the left handed hitting rookie to this thin infield as a platoon partner for Arroyo and his right side bat was shall we say more than intriguing to your writer. Well Christian Arroyo wanted me and you to all remember. He can hit anyone.

In the second inning Christian went JetBlue Oppo for a 385 foot shot off Lefty Bailey Falter for his first dinger of the season. then came back in the third and hit a Granny off righty Griff McGarry. So Take that Murph ….

Alex Cora talked glowingly about his second basemen after the game

“I've been saying all along, he's a good player,” said Cora. “It’s just, we’ve got to keep him on the field -- that’s the most important thing. We will protect him. When everybody's healthy, we'll protect all of them. I think we're deep enough that we can accomplish that.”

No arguments here. The issue with Arroyo has never been is he a solid talent, it's can you keep him in a solid state. Over the seasons Arroyo has seen his ticket punched to the DL by Oblique injuries in 2018 - forearm issues in 2019 - left hand , knee and hamstrings oh my. in 2021 and Groin and covid stops in 2022. Obviously not all this time was spent here in Boston. Bloom fell in love with Arroyo while they both were in Tampa.

But let's digress and we have to cut Christian some slack here as a utility guy. Arroyo has only once made 300 plate appearances . that was in 2022 . and before last year had never played more than 57 games in any big league season. Part of that is due to his position on those respective rosters but a lot of it has to do with as Alex cora said keeping him out of the trainer's room, and off the DL. Can the sox manage to do that for the entirety of 2023 ? I don't know but it would be great to see this kid stay healthy for an entire season and see what he can bring to the table every day. Or as a healthy platoon.

As always you can follow / give me grief on Twitter @Tmurph207