Boston Red Sox
Overview
The Sawx haven't done a lot since their streak from 1922-26 when they won 4 pennants in 5 years but things look like they're beginning to turn around in Beantown. A 17-9 September gave them their second consecutive winning season. The hitting is as good as any in the league: they finished 2nd in runs scored with 722 and were also just off the league pace with their .277 average. One place this righty-heavy team can improve is against right-handed pitchers: although the tema creamed lefties with a 22-16 record, they were just 57-59 vs the other side.
Pitching looks like a bit more of a problem, as their ERA was just 4th.
The Sox have a new manager going into the 1933 season. George Hubbard previously coached the Cleveland Indians from 1925-27, and although his record is not good it must be stated that those were some bad, bad teams. He took them from a 47-107 record in 1925 to 63 wins in '26 and 75 in '27. They haven't won that many games since.
Pitching
Although the Red Sox have been keen on retooling their pitching staff, it appears that
Paul Mair will still be the staff ace. Mair lives on the knife's edge in that his stuff is just not good enough to get him by when his control isn't there. It was mostly there in 1933 and as a result he sported an ERA more than a run lower than his career average. With Roger Sayers and Brian East out the door,
Christian Stanton will be called on as the #2 man in the rotation. Stanton brings a high-80s fastball that has a good deal of movement on it and a big, breaking curveball. In order for him to become a truly great starter, he's going to need to develop his change of pace.
Elsewhere,
Irwin Boulanger is the Red Sox' lifetime leader in games started but he's not likely to play at all in 1934 after tearing up his elbow August and indeed his entire career may be in doubt. In the mix for 1934 are
Michael McQuaid, who looked much better as a closer in the last month and a half than as a starter,
Al Rees, who turned in a great year in the bull pen but who did start 35 games between New Jersey and Boston in 1932, and
Walt Kropp, a prospect who posted a 3.00 ERA in the minors last year.
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA
*Paul Mair 26 17 17 0.500 39 39 0 307.2 353 127 14 89 57 3.72
*Roger Sayers 27 14 18 0.438 38 35 0 282 289 118 15 120 98 3.77
Brian East 28 11 11 0.500 24 24 0 193.1 202 70 15 48 68 3.26
Christian Stanton 23 7 4 0.636 16 16 0 114.1 123 45 5 41 20 3.54
*Irwin Boulanger 32 4 8 0.333 14 14 0 108.1 136 51 5 21 32 4.24
Michael McQuaid 22 3 7 0.300 24 15 5 97.2 101 44 1 65 32 4.05
*Jason Moore 25 4 2 0.667 18 10 1 74.2 72 21 4 32 32 2.53
Al Rees 25 5 2 0.714 33 0 1 61.1 58 14 1 14 16 2.05
Bob Cooke 29 7 5 0.583 34 0 11 56.2 46 19 5 22 19 3.02
Phil Hendrix 34 0 1 0.000 16 0 1 25 27 12 0 15 12 4.32
Tim Collins 32 3 0 1.000 11 1 1 24.2 26 6 0 10 7 2.19
Lester Willday 39 1 0 1.000 12 0 0 19.2 17 4 0 3 9 1.83
Alfredo Aquino 30 0 0 0.000 6 0 0 8 9 2 1 3 4 2.25
Donald Spaeth 23 1 0 1.000 5 0 0 7.1 7 6 0 8 4 7.36
Howard Long 20 2 0 1.000 4 0 0 6 7 1 0 3 1 1.50
Team Totals 27.7 79 75 0.513 294 154 20 1386.2 1473 540 66 494 411 3.50
Catchers
It was not a pretty year behind the plate for Boston but in the end
Paul Washington looks like the kind of kid who can be a serviceable starter for the next decade.
Charlie Maynor came into the year having been the Red Sox' #1 receiver since 1923 but fielding concerns coupled with a strangely disappearing bat led them to hand Washington the starting job and eventually move Maynor to the Cubs in the Tom Battle trade. Washington doesn't have a world-class arm himself but is a bit more mobile behind the plate and did throw out 36.2% of men who tried to run on him.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG
C Paul Washington 26 114 91 345 40 103 30 2 4 65 0 0 23 24 0.299 0.339 0.432
C Charlie Maynor 33 53 52 173 11 31 7 1 2 17 0 0 11 16 0.179 0.231 0.266
C Walter DeLong 20 16 10 49 5 14 5 1 0 14 0 0 1 7 0.286 0.294 0.429
C Jim Bartlett 33 1 1 5 1 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 0.200 0.200 0.800
Infield
In 3 1/2 seasons as a starter,
Mark Hanke has collected 681 hits and 338 RBIs, tops on the team. Last year the power stroke he'd acquired in 1932 disappeared as he actually failed to reach double digits in homeruns a year after slugging 28 of them. Still, the Sox are not complaining.
Earl Race had a rough year with the Sox after winning the ROY award with the Yankees in '32 and never really worked out for the team. He has been traded away, leaving the job up for grabs. The main contender is
Troy Donahue, who came to Boston from the New York Giants in 1931 and set career highs in at-bats, hits, RBIs, and total bases last year. However,
Bob Coffee has worlds of potential and did a fairly good job in 34 September at-bats. He projects to be a guy who could challenge Hanke for the league batting title in five years.
Kinnojo Maeda lost almost 40 points off his batting average last year but thanks to added durability actually registered 13 more hits in '33 than in '32. The Japanese import just missed the century mark in runs scored, was in the mix in AL Gold Glove voting at third, and even played in the first All-Star Game.
After an injury-plagued 1933,
Alan Powell enters 1934 as the front-runner for the starting shortstop job. He's not considered a great defender but the Red Sox as a team are not particularly fielding-oriented so that should not slow him down much.
Erik Shelly ended up starting most of the games at the position last year and while he combined soft hands with a .284 average, his skill-set seems better suited for a utility role.
Code:
1B Mark Hanke 25 150 149 616 80 207 24 7 9 96 1 0 49 51 0.336 0.384 0.442
2B Earl Race 25 104 103 450 53 114 22 4 2 51 0 1 20 28 0.253 0.288 0.333
2B Troy Donahoe 29 77 38 198 26 62 11 3 0 15 1 5 13 30 0.313 0.355 0.399
2B Bob Coffee 21 10 8 34 3 9 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 0.265 0.265 0.265
2B Mathew Conroy 23 3 2 10 0 4 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0.400 0.400 0.500
2B Colton McWhorter 25 1 1 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.333 0.500 0.333
3B Kinnojo Maeda 27 147 147 609 97 175 42 7 6 62 0 1 55 47 0.287 0.348 0.409
SS Erik Shelly 33 98 80 331 49 94 21 2 5 41 1 2 23 53 0.284 0.331 0.405
SS Alan Powell 24 62 55 193 40 57 8 2 3 20 1 4 35 15 0.295 0.409 0.404
SS #Kent Edge 21 44 32 120 9 24 1 0 0 5 2 2 8 8 0.200 0.248 0.208
Outfield
The outfield was very much in flux for the entire year.
Hollis Ramsdell started and ended the season in left but was pushed into center with the injury to
Bill Hampton. Ramsdell proved to be a passable center fielder and led the team in homeruns. The only thing keeping the Sox from using him up the middle full-time next year is the possible return of Hampton; although he didn't play much, he looked pretty decent when he did get in there. Steven Bartels will try to ply his trade in Brooklyn this year.
That leaves one and maybe two spots to be filled by
Randy Collis, a power hitter who hit 18 homers between Boston and Jersey City,
Tom Battle, the former Cubs star who has had a lot of trouble staying healthy the past two years, and
Manuel Ortiz, who once hit .345 in Forbes Field but who didn't show a lot of ability to hit for average at all last season.
Code:
LF Randy Collis 25 88 80 310 42 79 5 0 10 41 0 0 31 27 0.255 0.320 0.368
LF Roland Hardy 25 21 21 75 11 26 5 0 1 10 3 1 8 3 0.347 0.405 0.453
LF *Glenn Desmond 31 31 6 46 3 10 2 0 0 2 1 1 4 3 0.217 0.280 0.261
CF Hollis Ramsdell 28 132 131 531 76 162 25 5 20 92 3 5 43 38 0.305 0.360 0.484
CF *Steven Bartels 26 103 67 319 52 92 7 5 3 35 16 4 14 28 0.288 0.315 0.370
CF *Bill Hampton 32 36 27 107 17 31 3 0 1 15 1 1 11 8 0.290 0.367 0.346
CF Eric Propst 31 14 5 29 4 6 2 0 0 3 0 0 0 4 0.207 0.200 0.276
CF Jack Sawyer 23 11 6 27 4 11 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 3 0.407 0.393 0.407
RF Manuel Ortíz 30 60 56 228 21 60 15 4 2 29 5 2 10 25 0.263 0.293 0.390
RF *Tom Battle 27 37 37 144 23 41 9 3 6 34 3 2 10 16 0.285 0.329 0.514
RF *Jim Stephens 24 26 23 93 6 19 5 2 0 10 0 1 9 22 0.204 0.275 0.301
RF Trevor Fouts 35 12 4 21 5 5 2 1 0 2 0 1 3 4 0.238 0.333 0.429
Team Totals 27.2 1745 1386 5513 722 1529 272 49 75 704 38 33 393 515 0.277 0.326 0.385