Bobby Dalbec power surge continues: ‘I just think my body is in the right spot, and in the right spot at the right time'
The Red Sox are finally starting to see first baseman Bobby Dalbec’s bat come to life. Dalbec has struggled mightily all season, however, over the last two games, it appears his bat is heating up.
On Saturday afternoon, Dalbec was summoned to pinch hit for Franchy Cordero in the sixth inning. Entering that at-bat, the struggling young hitter was only batting .171 with one home run and eight RBIs in 43 games.
Dalbec went on to crush a homer that broke the 3-3 tie with the Orioles. His home run went on to be the eventually game winner and Boston won 5-3.
“I don’t know if it’s a spark. I just believe he’s seeing the ball better, he’s making adjustments, he’s trying to get on time. That’s the whole deal,” manager Alex Cora said. “Last year early on, this year too. Just be on time with the fastball and react to other stuff.”
The power surge continued into Sunday when Dalbec hammered his third dinger of the season. The two-run blast over the Green Monster in the second inning gave Boston an early 2-0 lead.
“I’ve been working hard so it’s nice to get some things going,” Dalbec said. “I just think my body is in the right spot, and in the right spot at the right time.”
Over his last five games, Dalbec is seeing a spark in his bat. The right-handed slugger is 5-for-15 (.333) with two homers, four RBIs, one walk and a .733 slugging percentage.
The 26-year-old is now riding a four game hitting streak. Granted, that streak is against Orioles’ pitching but seeing Dalbec build his confidence is exciting for the young plater.
“A lot of confidence,” Cora said. “It’s not that he’s trying to fit in or trying to do this to survive at this level. It’s like, yeah he knows he’s going to play. It started with plate discipline, when he got here with his walks and expanding the zone, and little by little, he’s hitting the ball hard, most of the time it’s solid contact and when he hits it in the air that’s going to happen. The one he hit opposite field the other day that’s a homer somewhere else. The one today he got. There’s a lot of confidence. You can see the athlete finally coming out and doing his thing.”
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