Jackie Bradley Jr. Earns Starring Role in Red Sox Outfield

Boston Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. is a cinephile.

Man on Fire, starring Denzel Washington, is his favorite movie of all time. Comedies are his first choice in genre. Among his comedy classics, remember he was born in 1990, are Ace Ventura and Major Payne. His favorite baseball movie is, no surprise, The Sandlot.

He’s yet to see all of the Godfather movies in chronological order.

Spoiler alert, Jackie, you can skip The Godfather Part III.

In the first five weeks after his latest call-up from Triple-A, Bradley was a "man on fire" at the plate. During a 31-game stretch starting Aug. 9, Bradley had the second-highest OPS in baseball (1.228 behind only David Ortiz’s 1.232). In that period, he led the majors with a .373 average and 14 doubles and was second in runs scored with 30.

He also had four triples, 25 extra-base hits, seven home runs and 11 walks.

On Aug. 15, the 25-year-old Bradley became the youngest player in MLB history to get two home runs, five extra-base hits, five runs and seven RBI in one game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN.com's Buster Olney). It seems Bradley, whom the club has sent to Triple-A Pawtucket five times since his Opening Day 2013 debut for the Red Sox, may have finally earned a starring role in Boston.

“It’s about perseverance and believing in myself,” Bradley told Bleacher Report. Bradley credits an “easy-going, even-keel,” attitude and confidence that “never wavered” for his recent success. “I have a perspective on life the small things don’t really get to me. There’s more to life than baseball. This is what I do; it’s not who I am.”

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

Bradley's "perseverance" and "even-keel" nature will be necessary to break his current 1-for-27 rut entering play Friday. He's also struck out 15 times in eight games heading into this weekend's series at Toronto. His average has fallen 44 points to .268 during that slide. 

The 2015 Red Sox: Director’s Cut Edition now airing each night usually features Rusney Castillo in left, Mookie Betts in center and Bradley in right. That also appears to be the set outfield moving forward into 2016, which is a far cry from the original 2015 Red Sox outfield of Hanley Ramirez in left, Shane Victorino in right and Betts in center. Injuries, trades, demotions and the disaster that was Ramirez in left field flipped Boston’s script. 

The Red Sox spent $72.5 million to sign Castillo after he fled Cuba, and they tried him at center and right field. Betts was once a middle infielder and played 230 games at second base in the minors. Bradley has been a stellar center fielder his entire career, going back to when he won Most Outstanding Player honors for the 2010 College World Series champion South Carolina Gamecocks.

Boston is partly wasting Bradley’s full defensive potential whenever he isn't in center field. The massive amount of real estate in Fenway Park that constitutes center field runs from the out-of-town scoreboard part of Boston’s left field wall, back to the triangle’s apex 420 feet from home plate, over to the swath of grass in front of the home bullpen.

“Obviously, I’ve played center most of my life. I’ve been able to adjust to left field and right field,” he said.

But at the end of the day, his positional preference is simply “playing.”

It is that spacious center field at Fenway that has given Bradley a stage to excel. “It’s fun. There’s a lot a space out there.” No ball that stays in the ballpark is safe. “I like to think I can catch any ball until it gets by me.”

“He can navigate any of those three outfield spaces,” added interim Boston manager Torey Lovullo.

Bradley’s highlight reel of leather larceny this year includes this:

And this:

And this: 

Bradley was one of the top center field prospects in baseball when the Red Sox brought him up in early 2013 to fill in for an injured Jacoby Ellsbury. Inconsistency has marked his MLB career at the plate. He hit just .198/.265/.266 in 423 plate appearances in 2014.

The adjustments he made at the plate in the offseason, during his time the minors this spring and summer and since being called back up to Boston on July 29 after the team traded Victorino, have been small but effective.

Bradley moved to Florida this past offseason with his wife and focused on physical conditioning early in the offseason. He then began working with assistant hitting coach Victor Rodriguez, who tightened up Bradley’s swing and pushed his focus toward hitting line drives. “It was his idea,” Rodriguez told the Richmond Times-Dispatch's Eric Kolenich. 

Sustaining his recent hitting success will insure his most recent journey to Pawtucket will be his last.

“He’s got a lot of confidence. Got on a roll. He’s worked hard to get to that point. He’s been to the minor leagues to figure things out,” Lovullo said. “He’s made some subtle adjustments with [hitting coach] Chili Davis. He’s surveyed the strike zone. He’s able to take balls and swing at strikes with limited movements. There’s a direct path to the ball. And he’s able to survey the strike zone. Those are the key components.”

The 2015 Red Sox have been a big-money flop along the lines of Fantastic Four. The team’s poor performance led to president Larry Lucchino and general manager Ben Cherington being removed from power. The ace of “five aces” Clay Buchholz has been out since July 10 with an elbow injury. The calamity that is Boston’s bullpen has only been equaled by Ramirez’s antics in left field.

The Red Sox named Dave Dombrowski president of baseball operations on Aug. 18. Dombrowski has joined the Red Sox on their current road trip, complete with a large black satchel laden with notes, media guides and scouting reports. He calls Bradley “versatile.” Bradley has picked the perfect time to impress the new boss, even if it means making him a more valuable trade tool.

“Since I’ve been here he’s played All-Star caliber baseball,” Dombrowski said. “His defense catches your eye. Automatically, he’s an outstanding defensive outfielder. All the way around. He’s one of the best outfielders out there. He’s got a great throwing arm, has good instincts and gets a good jump.”

Bradley is the rare left-handed hitter who enjoys more success against lefties (.389 average as of Friday) than righties (.211). Much of the work of improving Bradley’s swing was completed before Dombrowski’s arrival, but he still sees on video a “significant difference” from earlier.

“He’s swung the bat well," Dombrowski noted. "They’ve made adjustments with his toe touch. There’s a much smoother swing. The ball is jumping off the bat. He’s a much better all-around player.”

If that growth continues, Dombrowski may just have one of his franchise cornerstones for the next era of Red Sox baseball.

Bill Speros is an award-winning journalist, He wrote the "Obnoxious Boston Fan" column for Boston.com from 2011 to 2015. He can be reached on Twitter @RealOBF.