During his second MLB stint, Enmanuel Valdez is creating excitement for the future

Photo Credit: Red Sox's Enmanuel Valdez during his MLB debut Thursday. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)AP

After a slow start to the season, the Red Sox have been one of the best teams in baseball over the last two weeks. As the offense has come alive, they have gotten contributions from everyone in the lineup, including Enmanuel Valdez. During that stretch, Valdez has shown why he was one of the most talked about Red Sox prospects during spring training.

The Red Sox have called up Valdez twice this season, with his most recent promotion due to the injury of Yu Chang. So far all he has done in the majors is get on base. Through his first 35 at-bats, Valdez has posted a .343 batting average with four extra-base hits, including his first home run. On a nightly basis, he is creating headaches for opposing pitchers.

Additionally, the 24-year-old has four multi-hit games this season, with three of those coming over the past week. As the Red Sox completed their most impressive sweep of the season against Toronto to start May, Valdez played a critical role with four RBI. Although he is holding his own offensively, the former Astros prospect still has areas to improve.

Through 75 innings of work at second, Valdez has committed three errors. In the minors, he tended to make certain plays more challenging than they needed to be. He has done that in the majors at times, but his defense should improve as he gets more experience. During his time with the Red Sox, the focus has been increasing his versatility.

While the sample size is small, Valdez is making it hard for Alex Cora to keep him out of the lineup. Before his most recent promotion, Valdez was hitting .184 in Worcester and had 17 strikeouts in 14 games. He has been a completely different hitter in the majors and only struck out seven times in ten games.

Due to his play, the Red Sox will have a few hard decisions to make as they get healthier. Trevor Story, Yu Chang, and Adalberto Mondesi will be back at some point which could make Valdez the odd man out. However, if Valdez is still hitting over .300 when they are ready, the Red Sox will have plenty of infield options which is one problem they won’t mind having.

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