Jackie Bradley Jr. has started to lose playing time amid his struggles and Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports that the Red Sox will “likely” send the 23-year-old back to the minors when David Ortiz returns from the disabled list Friday.
Bradley is 5-for-38 (.097) with one extra-base hit in 12 games, although he has drawn six walks and stolen a base. There was plenty of debate about whether the Red Sox should have kept him at Triple-A to begin the season due to service time issues, but sending him to Triple-A now would serve the same purpose if he stays for a while.
Minnesota made a similar choice in going with 23-year-old Aaron Hicks as the Opening Day center fielder and he’s hitting even worse than Bradley at 2-for-45 (.044), which is a reminder that fan and media cries for teams to “put the best players on the field” aren’t always so cut and dried with rookies.