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Good luck, Jackie Bradley Jr. After refuting offseason rumors that he was set to retire, the beloved former Red Sox star outfielder was unable to latch on with an MLB club in Spring Training, but is out to show he still has a bit left in the caboose. The independent team, the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League, signed Bradley to a contract on Thursday.
While Bradley was never quite the bat the Red Sox expected, he was certainly every bit the defensive star, winning a Gold Glove award in 2018 and recording a career fielding percentage of .991 with 72 outfield assists.
He was an All-Star in 2016, when he batted .267 and had an OPS of .835, a career-high. Early that season, Bradley posted a most unlikely 29-game hitting streak, the fourth-longest in team history. Bradley had 26 home runs, 87 RBIs and 94 runs scored that season, all career highs.
Bradley spent eight years with the Red Sox before leaving for Milwaukee in 2021. He went to Toronto in 2022, but finished that year with the Red Sox again. He played 43 games for the Royals last year, at age 33, but hit just .133 in 113 plate appearances, and certainly looked through as a big-leaguer.
Jackie Bradley Jr. Was ALCS MVP in 2018
The highlight of Bradley’s Red Sox tenure was, no doubt, the A.L. Championship Series in 2018, on the way to the team’s World Series win over the Dodgers that year. Bradley hit a three-run double in Game 2 at Fenway Park that turned a 4-2 deficit against the Astros into a 5-4 Red Sox lead, one that they would not relinquish from there.
Bradley was the hero again in Game 3 in Houston, when his grand slam in the eighth inning turned a tight, 4-2 ball game into an 8-2 rout. In Game 4, Bradley’s two-out home run in the top if the sixth inning put the Red Sox ahead, 6-5, and propelled them to their third straight win of the series.
It was an unforgettable stretch for Bradley, yet those were his only three hits in the series. Bradley was, overall, 3-for-15 against the Astros in the 2018 ALCS, yet he won the series MVP award. Nine RBIs will do that.
As pitcher and teammate David Price said at the time, “There’s nobody on this team that I can think of in baseball that deserves it more than Jackie. One, the player that he is. And two, more importantly, the person that he is. He continues to work. He continues to grind.”
Red Sox Return Highly Unlikely
The quote from Price is emblematic of the popularity of Bradley within the Red Sox as a team, and within Boston in general. He can probably do the same for the Ducks. As manager Lew Ford said in a statement, “Jackie is an exceptional talent with a wealth of experience in the game. We are excited to add his veteran leadership and skillset at the plate and in the field to our roster.”
We won’t be seeing him back with the Red Sox this season, unless something goes horribly wrong with the team’s outfield depth, but it is easy to root for him getting another MLB chance.
Problem is, there are a lot of very good unsigned players still on the MLB market as we get rolling past the first week of the season. Outfielder Tommy Pham is probably the best of the bunch, and first baseman Brandon Belt is not far behind.
But if a team suffers an early injury or is struggling with centerfield defense, maybe Bradley will get a chance. It’s a longshot, but he’s not giving up just yet.
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