Alex Cora Drops First Hint at New-Look Red Sox Lineup

The Boston Red Sox report to Spring Training as their pitchers and catchers will begin arriving to Florida on February 15. This marks an official start to the 2023 MLB season. Boston looks to improve upon their fifth-place finish in last year's standings.

Boston did lose All-Star shortstop Xander Bogaerts this offseason but are aiming to fill out a more balanced lineup with the addition of Japanese star Masataka Yoshida, who adds an important slugging bat from the left side.

Manager Alex Cora recently dropped his first hint at how the new lineup will look with the addition of Yoshida and the subtraction of Bogaerts.

Alex Cora says Red Sox hope to split up Yoshida and Devers in lineup. So don’t expect Devers to hit second.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) February 14, 2023

According to team insider Chris Cotillo, Cora plans to utilize Yoshida from the leadoff spot. He's also looking to achieve balance with his lefty swingers, meaning Devers will drop to the three spot. Devers hit from the No. 2 spot in the lineup a total of 103 times last year. There was another 24 times he bat cleanup and 13 times from the 3-hole.

Hitting Yoshida from the leadoff spot is a strong move from Cora. While there will likely be a small amount of adjustment to MLB pitching, the 29-year-old outfielder displays important traits as a tone-setter. He owns a career batting average over .300 (.326) and gets on base better than a .400 rate (.419).

It's unclear exactly who will hit in between Yoshida and Devers, but Red Sox fans can start envisioning the Opening Day lineup with this first hint from Cora. The Red Sox enter the year with +5000 odds to win the 2023 World Series on FanDuel Sportsbook.

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Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

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