Morning Sports Update
Pepper, a baseball drill once cited by Ted Williams as “the single easiest way to develop yourself as a hitter,” was used by Boston hitting coach Pete Fatse to help Rafaela.
Red Sox use an old school method to help Ceddanne Rafaela: Coming into Sunday’s game against the Twins, Ceddanne Rafaela was hitting just .198 with a .571 OPS so far in the 2024 season. Beyond his own struggles, Boston as a team had gone over 200 at-bats without hitting a home run (reaching all the way back to April 27, when Rafaela himself hit one out against the Cubs).
To help Rafaela, 23, break out, Red Sox hitting coach Pete Fatse took a page from an older era of baseball. He had Rafaela play some pepper.
Pepper, for those not familiar, is a classic baseball game that dates back decades, helping hitters practice simply making contact with the ball:
Though it’s not utilized as much in 2024, it remains an effective method, as Rafaela was to prove in Sunday’s game.
After striking out in his first at-bat, Rafaela broke out in the fifth inning, smashing a two-run home run:
“I’m trying to get to the point where I can contribute more to the team,” Rafaela said after the game, per Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe. “I think [pepper] helped me get in that spot.”
Alex Cora endorsed the approach, noting that Rafaela has the talent needed to find himself as a hitter.
“He’s grinding. Pete talked to him today a little bit,” Cora told MassLive’s Christopher Smith. “They played pepper before the game. He needs to find the barrel. He needs to. He’s such a good athlete that he will. He will find it. But just thinking outside the box. Most of the time it’s the machine at 100 mph. Today was just a good, old game of pepper with a hitting coach outside and talk a little bit.”
Following Rafaela’s home run, which broke the 1-1 tie, Boston bats came to life in the eventual 9-2 win.
Pepper, while not as popular a game as it once was, was always cited by great hitters as a perfect method to learn bat control.
“I think it’s the single easiest way to develop yourself as a hitter,” Red Sox legend Ted Williams once told Bob Costas in an interview. “It gets your bat on the ball, and gets you hitting the ball right, and controlling the bat.”
Trivia: The inspiration for Ceddanne Rafaela’s middle name was a former National League MVP, as his mother was a fan of that team.
(Answer at the bottom).
Hint: World Series winner in 1995, NL MVP in 1999.
Scores and schedules:
The Red Sox got a 9-2 victory over the Twins on Sunday, ending Minnesota’s team-record 12-game winning streak. Boston will start a three-game series against the Braves in Atlanta tomorrow at 7:20 p.m.
Tonight, the Bruins face the Panthers in Florida for Game 1 of the second-round playoff series. The puck drops at 8 p.m.
On Tuesday, the Celtics begin the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Cavaliers at 7 p.m. at TD Garden.
More from Boston.com:
Some Patriots news: The team is reportedly set to waive quarterback Nathan Rourke, per ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
On this day: In 2000, Pedro Martinez pitched one of the more dominant games of his Hall of Fame career…and lost 1-0 to the Devil Rays. Typifying the somewhat disappointing 2000 season as a whole, Martinez was left without run support despite his complete game gem.
Tampa starter Steve Trachsel managed to out-duel the Cy Young Award winner, yielding zero runs and striking out 11 in his own complete game masterpiece.
Somehow, despite posting a microscopic 1.74 ERA in what was the height of the so-called “steroid era,” Martinez recorded six losses in 2000. Yet of those six defeats, four came in games in which he allowed two or fewer earned runs.
Daily highlight:
Trivia answer: Chipper Jones
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