Brock Holt played in one All-Star Game in six full seasons with Red Sox. More importantly, he was nominated four times for the Roberto Clemente Award, “which recognizes a player who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy, and positive contributions, both on and off the field.” AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
FORT MYERS, Fla. — If only there was a stat that incorporates lives changed for the better, Brock Holt might still be a member of the Boston Red Sox.
Holt, who will not be returning to Boston after agreeing to a contract with the Milwaukee Brewers earlier this week, was worth 1.3 WAR in 2019. He was worth 6.5 WAR over his six full seasons, according to FanGraphs.
This matters, of course, because these numbers (and others) are largely how teams make decisions in the modern era. The teams will never say it, but they make it clear over and over with their roster decisions: the players’ on-field contributions are all that matter.
Their off-the-field behavior, good or bad, hardly ever moves the needle but for the most extreme cases.
Holt was exemplary off the field, posing for endless selfies before games, saying hi to children in the stands, a glue-guy in the locker room, friends with everybody, serving as the Jimmy Fund captain – but these things don’t add bonus points on their FanGraphs page.
Maybe that should change.
We could add the number of times a player has been nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award, “which recognizes a player who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy, and positive contributions, both on and off the field,” to their Baseball-Reference pages.
For Holt, that answer is four. He’s been the Sox’ nominee in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019.
“It’s just who he was,” said teammate Matt Barnes. “It’s the personality he has and the kind of person he is. Wanted to be friends with everybody, be a great teammate, be a great player. And he did those well.”
Alas, the Red Sox did not bring him back.
They say they’re trying to win a championship but appear ready to use their 26th roster spot on Rule 5 pick Jonathan Arauz, a 21-year-old infielder who has played just 28 career games above High-A. He hit .252 with eight homers in 87 games in High-A last year.
Arauz will likely be asked to help back up Xander Bogaerts at shortstop and compete in an American League that includes studs like Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander, Corey Kluber, Masahiro Tanaka and Charlie Morton.
You know who’s got oodles of hits against all those guys?
Holt, who has batted .298 (25-for-84) with five doubles, a triple and a home run in his combined at-bats against them.
One of chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom’s first free-agent signings was infielder Jose Peraza, a 25-year-old who was non-tendered by the Reds. Peraza is a light-hitting infielder who has batted .273 with a .686 OPS over parts of five seasons, none of them particularly eye-popping.
Unlike Holt, Peraza has never been an All-Star. He’s never played in a postseason game.
Holt is the only player to hit for the cycle in the playoffs.
But Peraza is young. And most importantly, he’s cheap. He’ll cost just $3 million this year and could be cheap again next year, too.
Break them down and they’re similar players. That’s what makes the move particularly disheartening.
“I think the biggest thing is his impact on the Jimmy Fund and what he did for all of those kids,” Barnes said of Holt. “His importance to the community was unmatched.”
Holt knew nothing about playing the outfield when John Farrell and Ben Cherington had a conversation in the manager’s office one day in 2014, half-joking about putting Holt, a second baseman, in left.
Some days later, Holt started in left field at Comerica Park and made a diving catch. The diving catches kept coming, highlight reel plays one after another. He played left, right and center. He moved from second base to shortstop, third and first.
“Just an amazing story,” Cherington said at the time.
In the age of velocity, Holt has been a premier fastball hitter since he became a big league regular. He’s hit .281 against pitches 95 mph or harder. He’s hit .294 against 98 mph or harder.
And he’s been good in the clutch, hitting .297 with runners in scoring position last year and .279 with RISP over his career.
“He’s coming in there facing the best relievers in the game, the nastiest stuff, and he’s coming in there in the eighth, ninth inning, which is without a doubt the hardest job in baseball,” said Sox interim manager Ron Roenicke. “There are very few who are good at it. Brock was good at it.”
Lisa Scherber, the director of patient and family programs at the Jimmy Fund, tweeted this in response to Holt leaving the Red Sox: “There’s a million memories and a million smiles on the most beautiful faces because of Brock & (his wife) Lakyn.”
Unfortunately, the million smiles don’t show up in the WAR charts.
For the first time since 2014, the Red Sox will approach the utility position differently. They’ll take a chance on a Rule 5 pick with no experience. They’ll use a new free-agent signing with an almost identical skill set.
They’ll say goodbye to Brock Holt to do what they think will make them ever-so-slightly more efficient.
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