FORT MYERS, Fla. – “I think we have to be uncomfortable to take the next step,” Rob Refsnyder instructed the Herald on Sunday, his first morning again at JetBlue Park for spring coaching.
Throughout the offseason, Red Sox gamers spoke about how they wished to come back into a brand new season after back-to-back last-place finishes.
“(Alex) Cora does a really good job keeping us all pretty in-contact,” stated Refsnyder. “We were all in agreement that spring training’s gotta be a little bit different. It’s a lot more competition-based.”
“If you don’t work hard in the offseason, you’re just blown away in the season, I think,” he added.
Despite the membership’s lackluster outcomes over a lot of the final half-decade, Refsnyder thinks Bostonians will perceive and admire the mindset and method gamers have this yr.
“Just looking at Boston as a city, it’s just such a super-hungry city,” he assessed. “I think it reflects well, you know, we’re the same way: just super-hungry, don’t take anything for granted, hard-working people.”
“These people are putting in so much time and effort into the offseason,” he stated of his teammates. “There’s lots of people that labored extraordinarily exhausting… whether or not it was on their our bodies, their minds, particular expertise, pitch design, swing ideas.
“I think there’s a lot of guys with the chips on their shoulders, they didn’t think they had a good season last year, we’re coming off back-to-back last-place finishes, we talk about it, that we were pretty close at the deadline. We know we have the talent, and we just gotta put it together for the whole season and stay healthy. It’s a close clubhouse.”
The draw back of closeness is that it may be exhausting to observe teammates depart.
“It is different, seeing or not seeing some people here,” Refsnyder admitted. “(John Schreiber) was one of my closest friends on the team, if not the closest on the pitching side. We had a lot in common. He’s just such a good guy. Good, good guy. I don’t think anyone here didn’t love him.”
“We’re happy for him though,” he added of the right-hander, who was traded to Kansas City on Saturday. “It’ll be good. Getting traded is cool, it means somebody wants you. I think the Royals are trying to take that next step.”
As to who’ll lead the Red Sox this yr, there’s little question in Refsnyder’s thoughts that their shortstop is the person for the job.
“I think Trevor’s going to take that next step as our leader,” he stated of Trevor Story. “And he’s a super-competitive guy. Just bringing that perspective, I think that there’s going to be a lot more competition this spring training, and just trying to push the envelope and make people uncomfortable.”
Refsnyder doesn’t wish to dwell an excessive amount of on the previous, however he does suppose that this yr’s workforce ought to draw some inspiration from earlier Red Sox squads.
“I feel like the best Boston teams when I was growing up, they were just grimy and dirty, played hard,” he stated. “They’ve never been the pretty, ‘everyone expects them to win’ kind of thing, they just get after it. You look at guys like (Dustin) Pedroia, (Jonny) Gomes, (Mike) Napoli, guys like that, Daniel Nava, Brock (Holt), guys that just get after it. For us to be successful, we’re going to have to really be a team like that.”
“We got good guys to do it, though,” he added.
“Jarren’s going to take that next step,” Refsnyder predicted of his fellow outfielder, Jarren Duran. “Guy’s a freak, super-hungry, he cares so much. I feel like, as a fanbase, you want players like that.”
Refsnyder is getting into his third season with the Red Sox after enjoying a career-high 89 video games final yr. That makes the 32-year-old utility participant the second-most veteran member of the outfield, after Duran, who debuted in 2021.
“I think Jarren’s done a great job. He was unbelievable, you saw, last year,” Refsnyder lauded.
Informed of Alex Cora’s announcement that if Duran’s wholesome, he’ll be their leadoff hitter, Refsnyder was all for it. “He should be,” he stated. “You noticed with Jarren final yr, when Jarren’s wholesome and main off, we’re simply so harmful.
“He does stuff on a field that doesn’t make sense. He hits routine ground balls that are doubles. He’s just so exciting.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com