The Unveiling: A History of Xander Bogaerts First Impressions

“You’re thinking about this guy’s been sick, has been sleeping, probably hasn’t swung the bat in about two or three weeks. He shows up, goes out, stretches for, like, two seconds, goes out to shortstop, starts taking groundballs. Right away, you’re like, ‘Holy cow.’ You see his hands work. The fields are horrendous. There’s half-rock, half-sand. Every other ball is flying off on a bad hop. He gets a couple bad hops, but he makes plays, and you could just see the athleticism…

I start filming him because down there, when I’m talking to [former Red Sox international scouting director Craig Shipley], it’s a lot easier if I send video. So I got this video, and when I got back to the hotel, normally with Ship, you would say, ‘This is what I saw.’ It was pretty all business and detailed. But we’ve been buddies for a long time, so I just said, ‘Ship, watch this.’ That’s all I said.

“In about two seconds, my phone starts ringing. He’s like, ‘Holy cow, where did you find this guy?’ “

As impressive as Bogaerts was in his workout at the academy, Webb notes that he’s seen other Red Sox prospects with comparable bat speed at a young age, citing highly touted 2006 signees Oscar Tejeda and Engel Beltre as examples…

“I would say [the separator], honestly, was probably makeup. He has the ability to not get totally obsessed over a bad at-bat. A lot of guys, you see it affect them defensively or in their next at-bat. Bogaerts, not to say he doesn’t take it seriously, but he’ll let it go.