Jose Iglesias May Stick with Red Sox and That Might be the Worst News He Could Get

Jose Iglesias can pick it with the best of them, but has he won the Red Sox over with his recent hit bat? Image: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Red Sox face an interesting decision when third baseman Will Middlebrooks returns from the disabled list. Jose Iglesias, the 23-year-old shortstop-turned-utilityman has been playing very well during his stint with Boston and may well avoid being returned to Triple-A Pawtucket.

Is keeping the suddenly hot Igelsias in the majors as a role player a wise idea? Only if you’re certain you’re not robbing him of developmental time.

In other words, you either have to commit to playing him regularly or you have to be convinced that he no longer needs routine at bats. A quick glance at his numbers suggests Boston would benefit from paying Iglesias at short over veteran Stephen Drew, who has struggled at times at the plate this season and, really, hasn’t been the same hitter since coming back from a broken ankle suffered two years ago.

But the Red Sox are far more in tuned with looking beyond the triple crown stats than almost any other organization and they won’t be swayed by a .431/.452/.586 line for a variety of reasons. For starters, Iglesias has compiled these numbers over a mere 62 plate appearances. While the numbers look outstanding, in his brief stint in Boston, Iglesias has over 900 plate appearances at Triple-A that show a guy with a sub-.600 OPS. Chances are good that he wasn’t just bored down there and needed a bigger challenge.

Iglesias makes contact regularly, but he’s never walked much and walks have been almost non-existent since his recall. Additionally, a .511 batting average on balls in play is about 200 points higher than can be expected from a guy who doesn’t have a history of high BABIP numbers in the minor leagues.

Iglesias’ numbers will crash, and they will crash hard. Making him the regular shortstop would be akin to allowing the pitcher to hit in Boston’s lineup. Well, maybe not quite that bad, but this is a guy who was hitting .202 at Pawtucket before getting promoted.

The Red Sox need only to piece together the rest of this season and maybe a month or two of next year before they can feel reasonably comfortable in handing the job to Xander Bogaerts, the stud 20-year-old who is lighting up the Double-A Eastern League this season. Bogaerts doesn’t play defense like Iglesias (few do) and he may wind up outgrowing the position, but he sure can hit.

Igelsias is an elite defender at shortstop and he’s plenty athletic enough to man third and even second base with relative ease, I’m sure. But he’s not going to hit. My guess is that Boston has realized that and will now look to maximize Igleasias’ value by turning him into an asset off their bench. If they think he’s their man long-term, getting him regular at bats at Triple-A would only help.

Keeping Iglesias in Boston once Middlebrooks returns would not indicate that the Red Sox believe Iglesias is their future at shortstop. It would indicate that they believe he’s not.