How do you optimize the Boston Red Sox lineup?

As the Boston Red Sox continue to toe the line around .500, how can they optimize the lineup to find consistent offensive production?

Photo Courtesy of Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images

The Boston Red Sox have scored two runs or fewer in 20 out of their first 58 games in 2025.

As a consequence, they sit at 27-31 and in a familiar spot as a fourth-place team in a middling American League East division.

Great baseball starts and ends with pitching, and the Red Sox have not gotten enough out of their staff on a nightly basis to be blameless, but 20 games of two or fewer runs (27 of three or fewer) is simply not good enough.

There’s this Jekyll & Hyde approach to the offense.

One game they are hunting pitches early in counts, other games they are taking a ton of early strikes. Some games they are on the fastball, other games they can’t catch up to velocity no matter how fast it is.

Now, some of that is dealing with some extreme cold stretches from the middle infield. In May, the duo of Kristian Campbell and Trevor Story is slashing .140/.200/.186 with four extra-base hits and -1.6 fWAR. For the most part, those two have hit in the middle third of the lineup, supposedly protecting Rafael Devers, Alex Bregman — pre-injury — and Wilyer Abreu.

Now, you’ve seen Marcelo Mayer creep into the middle of the lineup with Carlos Narvaez jumping from the seven- or eight-hole to the three spot (!) in the lineup.

So, how do you optimize the lineup? Let’s go one-by-one.

Leading off, the center fielder, Jarren Duran.

This one’s a no-brainer. As Duran goes, so does the offense.

The unique combination of power and speed offsets what sometimes turns into weeklong on-base issues. He’s a gamechanger on the field and is in the midst of a 192 wRC+ stretch in his last 13 games (0.8 fWAR).

Yes, that *does* say center field for him. While the Red Sox are a vastly superior defensive unit with Ceddanne Rafaela out there, the offensive ups and downs has killed this team more than the defensive issues that still plague this organization.

Batting second, the designated hitter, Rafael Devers.

Another no-brainer. Devers carries this offense very often.

Hopefully the nay-sayers got their laughs in back in March when the future Hall of Famer started 0-for-21 with 15 strikeouts, because he’s slashing .315/.432/.574 with 2.4 fWAR since April 1.

Batting third, the catcher, Carlos Narvaez.

Ride the hot hand with this spot in the lineup, honestly.

Nobody is replicating the production lost by Bregman’s quad injury, but maybe you can recreate it somewhat with some lightning in a bottle.

Since Connor Wong broke his hand on April 7, Narvaez is hitting .273 with a .445 slug while putting up some great defense behind the dish.

He’s becoming a consistent source for XBH, with four in his past 11 games, and just continuously putting together professional at-bats, even in his outs.

Maddie Malhotra - Getty Images

Cleaning up for the Red Sox, the right fielder, Wilyer Abreu.

The cleanup spot is cursed for the 2024 Boston Red Sox, but Abreu’s batted ball profile is still excellent, especially considering he has made tremendous strides in his bat-to-ball ability.

The 25-year-old is fighting it and has struggled to drive in runs outside of launching, but the cleanup spot is perfect for him to build on his RBI chances hitting not so far behind Devers, who still has an OBP over .400 this year.

The dam will break for Abreu eventually, even if the immediate aftermath is the residual effects of his slump. He’s a very good hitter, that much is evident despite his recent struggles.

Batting fifth, the left fielder, Rob Refsnyder.

Yes, even against right-handers.

Since the start of 2024, Refsnyder is slashing .278/.339/.420 with a 111 wRC+ against righties. Is that spectacular? No. But he’s becoming something more than a platoon bat.

With Abreu getting more opportunities against lefty relievers, opportunities are growing scarce for Refsnyder, who is actually a better hitter against righties than Abreu lefties. You need offense and putting him in left field actually helps your defense because it doesn’t move Abreu from right.

Late-game scenarios of having Rafaela in center field, moving Duran back to left, also with Romy Gonzalez nearing a rehab assignment, there’s your potential late-game pinch-hitting opportunity for Abreu against a tough lefty reliever.

This guy is already a vocal leader in the clubhouse and his postgame comments after Monday’s loss were impactful. He deserves a chance to go out there and contribute to winning more than he’s allowed to.

Batting sixth, the third baseman, Marcelo Mayer.

Mayer looks pretty polished for only five games in the show. Yes, he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in his debut, but he worked counts and results aside he didn’t look scared to be there.

Now he has hits in three of his last four games and is taking to the third base position.

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Batting seventh, the second baseman, Kristian Campbell.

I don’t believe if Campbell was actually hurt, he’d still be in the lineup. Could there have been some bad habits created in the initial aftermath of his injury in Toronto? Maybe. However, he is moving fine and doesn’t seem bothered by anything other than his performance.

Regardless, the lineup is not better without him in it. Maybe a lower-pressure situation helps him get back to who he is when he’s at his best: mashing the baseball, hitting line drives all over the field and launching when the opportunity presents itself.

He’s also got his hands full with learning new positions, but I’d abandon moving him to first base and just let the kid play baseball.

Batting eighth, the first baseman, Abraham Toro (or Nick Sogard).

I like the idea of having that switch-hitter at the bottom of the order because it forces the manager to make a decision. Right now, the decision would probably be to go to a lefty to face Campbell (.159 average, .205 slug), which then opens the door for Toro (or Sogard) to be the aforementioned Gonzalez, or maybe Rafaela in an RBI spot.

Those two have also filled in admirably this year in general. Through 109 plate appearances, that duo is hitting .276 with a 103 wRC+ and seven runs batted in. While Toro is outplaying his xwOBA by 61 points, Sogard is underperforming his by roughly the same.

That duo is working, and in the eight-spot you could certainly do a lot worse.

Batting ninth, the shortstop, Trevor Story.

No amount of shouting on Twitter will expedite the removal of Story from the lineup.

Is he a good hitter? No, in all likelihood he will finish comfortably below league-average offensively. Is he *this* bad? No. There’s just no way.

But what I will say is, he’s been better in May than Campbell and yet catches way more flak. I get it, he makes north of $20 mil a year and is not a rookie learning a new position. However, with Bregman out for likely two months, you need to have adults in the room.

This lineup, as constructed, has three rookies (four if you include Sogard). You need to have experience in there. Can this be revisited when Bregman returns? Absolutely, but we’re likely looking at post-All-Star Break for that reality.

As the ninth batter in the lineup, it makes sense to keep him around because he offers speed, the bat-to-ball has improved in recent games (strikeout rate down to 25.0% since May 16) and he has the ability to leave the ballpark.

Maddie Malhotra - Getty Images