Red Hot J.D.

There are plenty of moments last year where I wanted to punch a wall watching J.D. Drew hit: the numerous and never-ending weak groundballs to second base on outside changeups, the inopportune and always fracturing double plays that seemed to murder rally after rally, the lack of power that was supposed to be a given in the #5 hole after Ortiz and Ramirez. The $60 million dollar contract appeared to be a Boras victory and Theo’s lost gamble.

Who’s laughing now?

The grand slam in Game 6 of the ALCS set up a scenario where, right now, on June 13, 2008, David Jonathan Drew is the most reliable and most productive masher in the Red Sox lineup. Not Papi, not Lowell, not Youk, not Manny…J.D. Drew and his killer .993 OPS and 163 OPS+ is carrying the lineup. The approach has been refreshing: using the Green Monster to his benefit, smoking line drives up the middle, and hitting balls out of the ballpark: 10 this season compared to 11 in all of 2007.

Now, $14 million for a .993 OPS isn’t looking all that bad. It’s looking like a bargain.

The .324 batting average ranks third in the AL, the .430 OBP second, the .562 slugging fourth, and the .993 OPS second to the resurgent Milton Bradley. Factor in his outstanding defense in right field all season and you could have a playable argument Drew is a top candidate for MVP at this point. In April and May, Drew put up a .792 OPS, respectable, but nothing special. In 11 games in June, he’s been otherworldly: .500/.604/1.194.

Will Drew cool down dramatically in the coming weeks/months? Obviously there’s no way he can keep up this torrid pace. But with Papi’s devastating wrist injury rearing its head at a time where the Red Sox were dealing with many other injuries on the roster, someone needed to carry the lineup with Youkilis cooling down, Pedroia continuing to disappoint, and Lowell (understandably) not being able to repeat his 2007 performance in the cleanup spot when Manny went down.

J.D. took matters into his own hands and is swinging the hottest bat in baseball. Just watching him step up to the plate in the middle of this streak, you can sense he is seeing pitches unlike any other point in his career. Show me a time he’s swung at a pitch out of the strike zone. Show me a time where he’s reached for a ball on the outer half and weakly grounded it to the second. Every ball is taken, every strike is hammered, every run aiding the Red Sox buy time until the Big Man returns.

Drew’s best two seasons at the plate came in 375 AB in 2001 for the Cardinals and in 518 AB for the Braves in 2004. Due to the AB disparity, we’ll take 2004 as J.D.’s best overall campaign and compare it to his pace in 2008:

2004: 118 R, 158 H, 28 2B, 8 3B, 31 HR, 93 RBI, 12 SB, 118 BB, 116 K, .305/.436/.569
2008: 122 R, 160 H, 32 2B, 3 3B, 27 HR, 98 RBI, 5 SB, 98 BB, 90 K, .324/.430/.562

Pretty close, eh?

If Drew can continue at just a pace of .310/.420/.540 the rest of the season, he will have earned his paycheck, and it may even cause some problems for Terry Francona. When Ortiz returns, where do you insert Drew in the order? #2 would make the most sense, but that will never happen. Do we insert him back into the #5 spot and move Lowell to #6 and Youkilis to #7?

Regardless, Drew’s resurgence means the Red Sox feature the most extensive and deep lineup of any American League contender once again. It also means less reaching groundouts to second base, which in turn is beneficial to my health.

(Warning: Please don’t blame me if Drew goes 0 for his next 20. This is NOT meant to be a jinx. If he slumps, please don’t come to my house with a machete. I beg you. PLEASE J.D GET THREE HITS TONIGHT AND DON’T LEAVE ME WORRIED!!!).