The Red Sox’ player development is even dumber than you thought
Why can’t the Red Sox even get the most basic things right? A new report may explain a simple reason.
BOSTON, MA – JULY 2: Roman Anthony #19 of the Boston Red Sox reaches for a ball that fell between him and Marcelo Mayer #39 for a hit by Christian Encarnacion-Strand #33 of the Cincinnati Reds during the eighth inning at Fenway Park on July 2, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Photo By Winslow Townson/Getty ImagesThe Boston Red Sox play like a dumb baseball team. This is nothing new. But why?
A terrifying new report explains it: they've dumbed themselves down.
Former longtime Red Sox exec Zack Scott, now the founder of Four Rings Sports Solutions, posted on X Thursday that he heard the reason the Sox seem so clueless when it comes to the most basic things. It's because it's not even part of the program:
"A Red Sox PD member once told me that he knew it was time for an exit strategy when a newly hired (by [Chaim] Bloom) minor league field coordinator declared in their first meeting that 'we no longer coach fundamentals.' Ok then."
Scott's new company aims to implement superior player development systems, and he's not exactly against using data to do that. But even he doesn't have any data that tells him players don't need to work on the basics of baseball. This dismissal of fundamentals is why guys get to the majors and make constant defensive and baserunning mistakes. There's even harmless-but-mind-numbing stupidity, like trying to turn a double play with two outs. No, guys, you in fact cannot bank that out for the next inning.
Photo by Paul Rutherford/Getty ImagesThe Boston Red Sox organization is no longer teaching the fundamentals of baseball, and it's badly infecting the major league club.
How's this no-fundamentals approach working out for the Red Sox? They're 43-45 so far in 2025, with no hope for a turnaround in sight, despite making major moves to bolster the roster. They're 353-355 since the 2020 season, when Chaim Bloom had taken over the baseball operation the previous fall.
The Red Sox' overreliance on analytics and shunning of even the most basic tenets of baseball has led to widespread communication problems between the front office and the players. And it's long-infected the ultimate product on the field. It's a wonder how much longer this can go on before real major changes are needed. Even beyond Craig Breslow and the front office.
Will John Henry do anything about this? Or perhaps he's not even paying attention at this point. It's not like the baseball players are paying attention to baseball.
