BOSTON — How hard Nick Sogard was hitting the ball at Triple-A Worcester this season is one of the first things that stood out and put him on the Red Sox’ radar as a legitimate candidate to be called up to Boston.
He had been a steady player in previous years after then-chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom acquired him and catcher Ronaldo Hernandez from the Rays in February 2021 for Jeffrey Springs, Chris Mazza and cash. The 26-year-old infielder posted a .370 on-base percentage and played solid defense in 112 games (460 plate appearances) for the WooSox last year.
But multiple infielders, including Enmanuel Valdez, Pablo Reyes, Luis Urías and Yu Chang, received opportunities in Boston over him. He was never a serious candidate until this year after he added weight and began impacting the ball more.
The impact is coming from both sides of the plate for the switch hitter. His slugging percentage from the left side increased 76 points from last year to this year at Worcester. That was an important reason why he turned himself into a serious call-up candidate.
Boston’s offense is extremely left-handed hitter heavy and has had the most pinch hit at-bats (28-for-119) in the major leagues this season. When the Red Sox promoted Sogard, they liked how they wouldn’t be forced to use a pinch hitter for him because of his ability to hit both lefties and righties. They also liked how he would be able to come off the bench to pinch hit from the right side against left-handers on days when he wasn’t starting.
Sogard’s two-run single from the left side of the plate off Rangers righty José Leclerc gave the Red Sox insurance in their 9-4 win on Tuesday. It extended Boston’s lead from 6-4 to 8-4 in the eighth inning.
It all began with a decision he made as a junior in high school after his dad encouraged him to begin switch hitting.
“My dad was really the big push for it,” Sogard said. “I didn’t love the idea at first. But I’m glad I’m doing it now.
“He brought it up earlier (than junior year) and I had been kind of messing around with it here and there,” Sogard added. “But I didn’t officially start doing it until then.”
The natural right-handed hitter has never felt better from the left side. Sogard went 68-for-240 (.283) with a .395 on-base percentage, .429 slugging percentage and .824 OPS against right-handed pitchers at Worcester this year.
That’s a vast improvement from 2023 when he posted a .250/.348/.353/.701 line against righties.
“This probably is the first year the splits have evened out,” Sogard said. “I think the previous years the right side has been a lot better. But over those past few years, I’ve obviously been aware of that and it’s been a ton of work on the left side. This year, I feel like I’m honestly not having as good of a year as I would like from the right. So I’m going to have to address some of those things going forward. But I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made from the left side. It’s been a lot of work to kind of get that better.”
Does he think his much better stats from the left side this year were the biggest factor in him finally cracking the big leagues?
“I don’t know if it was necessarily that specifically,” Sogard said about what led to him getting on the radar this season. “It’s hard for me to say what it was for them. I know there’s so many things that factor into that happening. The biggest one probably just being club need and fit with the roster and all that. So I know it definitely doesn’t hurt. That’s why I’ve been told throughout my career playing all the different positions. I know the more kinds of things you can do, the more available you can be to the ball club. So it definitely doesn’t hurt.”
Junior year of high school obviously is late to begin switch hitting.
“I would try sometimes in games if my team was winning by a lot or whatever,” Sogard said. “I felt like if it was a big at-bat, I’d take it right-handed. So yeah, it is definitely later than probably most. It’s been a lot of work to kind of try and almost catch that side up. But I feel pretty balanced now.”
He said he took “significantly more” swings from the left side in the cage the past few offseasons.
“For me, it’s two completely different swings,” Sogard said. “From the left, I kind of have a leg lift. From the right, it is more of a toe tap. Everything is right-hand dominant for me. So it’s two very different deals. So I have to stay on top of both for sure. But there’s definitely been more work put in on the left side, kind of more that focus. Just attacking I wouldn’t say a weakness but an area where there was low hanging fruit to improve based on reading into the numbers the past few years.”
