People dig the long ball, but Romy Gonzalez is plenty happy keeping the ball in the park.
The Red Sox infielder hit his first home run of the season on Saturday in Boston’s 10-7 win over the New York Yankees.
That’s one home run in 23 games. Not exactly Ruthian numbers. And perhaps not what the fans want to see after watching both Tristan Casas and Alex Bregman land on the injured list.
But Gonzalez, whom Boston claimed off waivers before the 2024 season, thinks less is more when it comes to his approach in the batter’s box. The 28-year-old explained to FanGraphs why he features a line-drive stroke that favors the opposite-field gap.
“A lot of it comes down to health. I was banged up the first couple years of my career, and when you’re banged up, your body doesn’t do what you want it to do,” Gonzalez said.
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“But yeah, I’m just sticking to my approach and going to right-center, trying to hit line drives. If the ball gets put in the air, it gets put in the air.”
Gonzalez told FanGraphs he’s made a pair of adjustments at the plate: minimizing his leg kick and dropping his hands.
“I was getting attacked with a lot of velo on the inner part of the plate, and I think that was a product of me having my hands really high,” Gonzalez said. “I had them over my head, so teams would attack me under my hands. Dropping them has allowed me to be more direct to the baseball.”
It’s hard to argue with that approach. Gonzalez is batting .311 this season. Only Abraham Toro (.341) has a higher average on the Red Sox. And while Gonzalez has just one home run so far, nine of his 23 base hits this year have gone for extra bases.
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