Boston Red Sox: Stellar spring sign of good things to come for Jackie Bradley Jr.

Boston Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. is making a strong case for himself ahead of the 2016 season.

The Boston Red Sox have every right to be excited about their outfield, in 2016 and beyond. 23-year-old Mookie Betts is coming off an outstanding first full MLB season in which he slashed .291/.341/.479 with 17 home runs and 77 RBIs while posting a 6.0 WAR. The team expects Cuban slugger Rusney Castillo to solidify himself as a starting outfielder this year as well.

Mention the name Jackie Bradley Jr. and you’re likely to receive a more tepid reaction. Enthusiasm for the one-time top prospect has somewhat waned. With the rise of Betts as a potential MVP contender, the presence of Castillo and intriguing minor leaguers like Andrew Benintendi (ranked the #4 Red Sox prospect by MLB.com), Bradley was looking rather lost in the shuffle of the Boston outfield scene.

If his Spring Training numbers are any indication, Bradley looks to re-assert himself in a big way during the upcoming campaign. The young outfielder boasts a .391/.462/.565 slash line with a home run in 26 preseason plate appearances.

It’s a repetitive point, but spring performances are of course not necessarily indicative of what the regular season has in store. However, these early returns are certainly welcome in the case of a player like Bradley, who has struggled with inconsistency throughout his time in the big leagues.

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In fact, Boston Globe writer Christopher L. Gasper encapsulated this point in an article at the beginning of March titled “Which Jackie Bradley Jr. will Red Sox get this season?” It’s a valid question, as Bradley has shown flashes of premier talent at times while appearing thoroughly hapless at others.

A 22-year-old Bradley made his major league debut in 2013 as the Red Sox’s Opening Day left fielder. It was a strong vote of confidence in a young player who had just been named the 31st overall prospect in the game by Baseball America. However, Bradley has failed to really make his mark at the plate in three years at this level, owning a career .213/.290/.349 line in 238 total games.

Nevertheless, last season provided some hope that Bradley could be turning a corner. Though his overall numbers in 2015 weren’t exactly eye-popping, Bradley went on an absolute tear in the month of August. He slashed .354/.429/.734 in 91 plate appearances, salvaging what had until that point been a lost season. Bradley had spent much of the year at Triple-A Pawtucket, making only a handful of big league appearances during the season’s first several months.

He flexed unprecedented power down the stretch, hammering five homers in August. Two of those came on August 15, when Bradley became just the eighth player in history to record five extra-base hits in a single game. Though his average sputtered to .216 in September and October, he still added four more long balls and 17 RBIs to his account during that span.

Now, Bradley won’t hit .391 this year and his late season power surge was likely somewhat of a mirage. However, there is no reason he can’t be a competent bat at the bottom of the Red Sox lineup in 2016. Bradley also showed much better plate discipline last year, posting a 10.6 percent walk rate, a significant increase from the season before (7.3 percent).

If he can keep improving in that regard and also cut down on the strikeouts (27.1 percent last year), he can be a valuable asset getting on base in front of the likes of Betts, Xander Bogaerts and David Ortiz. Due to turn 26 next month, he’s certainly still young enough to be on the upswing.

Next: Top SS rankings for 2016

Boston hopes to contend for the AL East title in 2016 after a disappointing last-place finish. Though much of the focus will be on big-name newcomers like David Price and Craig Kimbrel, a strong year from Bradley could be an underrated piece of the puzzle.