Red Sox are Adding Much-Needed Power Bat in Adam Duvall
An interesting off-season continues for the Boston Red Sox, who are reportedly adding a veteran outfielder to their rapidly depleted position player group.
The team signed free agent Adam Duvall to a one-year contract worth $7 million, the Miami Herald’s Craig Mish reported Wednesday. His deal is pending a physical and includes $3 million in performance bonuses, potentially increasing the total value of his contract to $10 million.
Duvall is coming off an injury-plagued 2022 campaign, limited to just 86 games before undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a torn tendon sheath in his left wrist. The 34-year-old hit .213/.276/.401 with 12 home runs, 36 RBIs and an 87 wRC+ during his final year with the Atlanta Braves.
The right-hander injured his wrist after jamming it against a wall in foul territory while tracking a fly ball off Shohei Ohtani’s bat on July 23rd. He left the game and didn’t return, proving to be his final appearance with the franchise.
Despite last season’s first-half woes, Duvall – who spent two and a half seasons with Atlanta during his first tenure from 2018-20 – returned to the organization in a midseason trade with the Miami Marlins in 2021 and helped deliver their first World Series trophy since 1995.
The 2016 All-Star was well respected throughout the clubhouse, serving as a veteran leader during his two stints with the Braves. And while his injury robbed him of a proper send-off, everyone inside that franchise will remember the type of player he was, on and off the field.
“It’s tough because of the person he is,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said at the time of Duvall’s injury in 2022. “They don’t make them better than Adam Duvall. No greater teammate.”
“He’s played a big part in our success here anytime he’s been here. So it’s a tough loss. It’s a big loss.”
At 34, Duvall is joining a Red Sox lineup that has lost Xander Bogaerts (San Diego Padres) and J.D. Martinez (Los Angeles Dodgers) in free agency and will be without Trevor Story for most of the season due to elbow surgery. He does, however, join fellow newcomers Justin Turner and Masataka Yoshida.
Boston’s offence, centred around Rafael Devers, won’t pack the same punch it has in previous seasons. But it could still feature a considerable amount of power, especially with Duvall added to the mix.
The 6-foot-1 righty likely isn’t a full-time contributor anymore but could make an impact versus left-handed pitching, as he’s posted 41 home runs, a .486 slugging percentage and a .251 isolated power against them across 734 plate appearances since 2016.
Last season, Duvall registered a .562 SLG and a .329 ISO with six round-trippers across 78 plate appearances. So even though his overall results weren’t impressive, he remained effective while facing lefties – a trend Boston is hoping continues in 2023.
The Red Sox desperately needed to acquire a slugger of Duvall’s calibre after ranking 17th in ISO (.152) and 20th in home runs (155) among all 30 MLB franchises in 2022, according to FanGraphs. And that was with Bogaerts, who slashed .307/.377/.456 with 15 long balls, third-most on the team.
It’s risky to take a chance on the Louisville, Kentucky, native after enduring such a significant injury, especially considering he’s on the wrong side of 30. At this point of the off-season, though, there weren’t many better alternatives – if any.
In the field, the former Brave spent most of the 2022 campaign in centre, logging 382 innings with plus-three Outs Above Average. He also split time in left, though he was much less effective, recording minus-two Defensive Runs Saved and plus-one OAA over 237.1 innings.
With Enrique Hernández shifting to shortstop in place of Story, Duvall will likely earn the majority of his reps in centre, sharing the position with Jarren Duran and Rob Refsnyder.
According to MLB insider Jon Heyman, the Red Sox don’t appear to be finished spending as they remain interested in infielder Josh Harrison, who spent last season with the Chicago White Sox.
Harrison didn’t provide much offensive upside, slashing .256/.317/.370 with seven home runs and a 98 wRC+ over 119 games. He was impactful with his defence, though, producing plus-three DRS and plus-three OAA across 749.1 innings at second base.
The 35-year-old was only worth 1.4 fWAR, but with Christian Arroyo – worth 0.2 fWAR in 2022 – currently positioned to open next season as the club’s everyday second baseman, it’d be wise to add an extra layer of middle infield depth before Opening Day.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: Arturo Pardavila III. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.