On Wednesday, Red Sox manager Alex Cora joined WEEI Afternoons for his regular weekly hit, and was asked about his comments from pregame Tuesday where he explained why rookies Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer won’t be regularly batting against lefties in the early parts of their major league career.
“This is what we do here, right?” Cora said on Tuesday. “There’s going to be lefties that, we’re going to hit for them, they’re going to pinch hit for other guys. We’ve got some good pinch hitters here. Romy [Gonzalez], that’s his job, and [Rob Refsnyder], too, so we’ll pick and choose. They understand.
“The gap is big. It’s very big. I think the lefties here [in the majors] are real lefties, there’s stuff here. Especially the guys in the bullpen, I truly believe that if you got stuff, you’re going to be here, you’re not going to be in Triple A or Double A. So what [the rookies] see here is different. And we have two of the best [pinch hitters]. That’s the reality of our roster.”
On Wednesday at our Ford Clubhouse Studio at Fenway Park, Cora made it clear that he will use discretion when it comes to pinch hitting his young guys against left handed pitching, and that it won’t just be a blanket edict regardless of the situation.
“I mean, there's certain lefties that they're not going to face,” said Cora. “We'll mix and match. I think now, with the roster that we have, we have to understand that we got Romy and Ref. They're really good at what they do.
“The other day, Roman faced a lefty in the 5th [or] 6th inning. But then with two outs - we have bases loaded, and the game called for Romy to pinch hit. And we're gonna to play the game. As far as starters, there's a few that we know they're tough. There's others that - they’re still tough, but we believe that they're going to be able to handle it. So we'll play it like that. It's not a given that, ‘Oh, they're not going to start.’ But we'll pick and choose when, and throughout the game we'll pick and choose when we're gonna pinch hit.”
Cora’s comments on Wednesday show just how much he believes in the depth on his current major league roster, which sits at 33-36 on the season and has now won 4 of their last 6 games immediately following their worst skid in 2025 - losing 8 of 10 against the Orioles, Brewers, Braves and Angels.
“I think the difference now knowing that we have Roman, we got Marcelo, it plays into our advantage,” said Cora. “Now it’s, ‘When are we going to use Ref?’ It might be for Marcelo, it might be for Roman, maybe for [Jarren Duran] with the bases loaded and one out, you know? Like, now we can play the game of mixing and matching, especially with teams like [Tampa] that have three lefties. If you're going to mix and match, we're going to maximize our roster.
“I think it's a complete roster. Obviously with time, we're going to have to make decisions when [Wilyer Abreu] comes back. But as of now, we're very comfortable with who we have, and we'll pick and choose when they're going to start against lefties.”
With the Rays slated to start righty Zack Littell (6-5, 3.68 ERA) on Wednesday for their series finale at Fenway, both Anthony and Mayer are slated to be back in the lineup. Anthony will get his third straight start in right field, and Mayer will again be at third base.
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