Inside The Red Sox

Red Sox's Bobby Dalbec's Blasting Homers For WooSox, But Biggest Flaw Remains

Dalbec still is struggling to put the ball in play.

Scott Neville

Red Sox's Bobby Dalbec's Blasting Homers For WooSox, But Biggest Flaw Remains
Red Sox's Bobby Dalbec's Blasting Homers For WooSox, But Biggest Flaw Remains /
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If you've seen the headlines coming out of Triple-Worcester, you'd think first baseman Bobby Dalbec is starting to turn a corner.

He's seen a noticeable spike in power and the coaching staff is raving about his work ethic. 

However, the 6-foot-4, 227-pound slugger has yet to solve, or even improve upon his ridiculously high strikeout rate. Dalbec played in 111 games for the Boston Red Sox this season and posted a 33% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate to go along with a .211 average with 22 extra-base hits including 11 home runs, 36 RBIs and a .644 OPS. 

The Dalbec experiment hasn't been going well for a while, and despite the increase in pop, he still is making the same mistakes. In 13 games with the WooSox, Dalbec does have five home runs, eight RBIs and a .865 OPS, but he's striking out at a 29% clip with a 6% walk rate against lower-level pitching. 

Until he can figure out how to put the ball in play with regularity, the rest of his game is almost irrelevant. The former Red Sox slugger has not been able to slash his strikeout-to-walk ratio down since he entered the big leagues in 2020, but he's still giving it everything he's got.

“(He’s been) tremendous," WooSox manager Chad Tracy told MassLive's Katie Morrison. "He’s unbelievable. Actually he’s in a good mood. Came in and said hi to everybody. He didn’t mope or sulk. He’s honestly the first one to show up to work. He’s out there for getting ready for the game, first guy out there. He’s been awesome.”

He's an easy guy to root for, but it's hard to envision the 27-year-old will be able to seal the hole in his bat in a single offseason.

More MLB: Chaim Bloom On Xander Bogaerts: 'Type Of Guy You Want To Have Here'

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Scott Neville
SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer.  His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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