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<\/p>\nThere’s no question that the 2026 Boston Red Sox haven’t lived up to expectations so far this season. Currently, the team sits at the bottom of the American League East, looking up once again at their division rivals. There are many things fans can point their fingers at to blame for the abysmal start to the season, whether it be the offense or the individual players on the field. Today, we take a look at how each player is doing and put a grade on their 2026 season.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Red Sox made a deal with the St Louis. The Cardinals this offseason acquired first baseman Willson Contreras, filling the hole<\/a> at first base that had been empty for many years. For the Red Sox, it has ended up being quite the deal, as Contreras has been the team’s best offensive player this season. Contreras, through 62 games this season, has hit .294 to go along with a team-leading 13 home runs, all while playing quality defense at first base. The Red Sox hope to turn their season around and hold on to Contreras rather than trade him at the deadline.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Marcelo Mayer<\/a> was known to many Red Sox fans long before making his big league debut last season. Mayer was the top-ranked prospect in the whole organization since he was drafted fourth overall in the 2021 MLB Draft. He has been regarded as the future of the Red Sox organization for many years. At just 23 years old, Mayer enters his second season with the team after playing 44 games last year. This season, Mayer has been off to a slow start with the bat, hitting just .222 to go along with an on-base percentage of just .281. Though he is still young and has plenty of time to grow, Mayer hasn’t been what the Red Sox need him to be this season.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grade: D<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Carlos Narv\u00e1ez<\/a> entered this season as the team’s starting catcher after a solid 2025 season from the backstop. It seems like the 2025 season is already far behind Narvaez, as he’s appeared to not only fall behind catcher Connor Wong on the depth chart but also behind Mickey Gasper, who was called up from Triple-A just a few weeks ago. This season, Narvaez is hitting .209 at the plate, striking out 38 times while walking just 10 times. Unless Narvaez can get hot at the dish, it seems his job is all but lost.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Caleb Durbin<\/a> was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in the offseason<\/a> in a deal that sent now Cy-Young candidate Kyle Harrison<\/a> to the Brewers from Boston. The deal so far has proven to be one of the worst trades in recent memory for the Red Sox. While Harrison has gone on to have a Cy-Young season, Durbin has been among the league’s worst qualified hitters, batting just .190 with a .254 on-base percentage. This is one of the Red Sox’s regrets so far. The only thing saving Caleb Durbin’s season and grade will be the fact that he is atop the league in defense at third base, something the Red Sox have been searching for since before the Rafael Devers<\/a> era.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n There is no question Jarren Duran<\/a> is a fan favorite for the Boston Red Sox. The 2024 All-Star Game MVP enters his sixth season with the club and has proven he can be the spark that the Red Sox need at the top of their lineup. Unfortunately for Duran, so far this season, he has not been the former self the Red Sox need him to be, hitting just .208 with a .270 on-base percentage. Despite the down season, some may argue that he is still the heart and soul of this team. Duran currently sits second on the team with 10 home runs and first with 11 stolen bases.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Known for his elite defense in center field, Ceddanne Rafaela<\/a> is quietly putting together his best season offensively for the Boston Red Sox. This season, Rafaela is hitting .286 with a .346 on-base percentage to go along with five home runs. Rafaela also sits second on the team in slugging percentage at .429. Having Rafaela in the lineup used to be purely for his Gold Glove defense, but he has shown he can be a complete, all-around player in 2026.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another guy known for his Gold Glove defense, the Red Sox were hoping Wilyer Abreu would take a step forward in his power production at the plate this season. Despite posting the worst slugging percentage of his career so far at .420, Abreu has the best on-base percentage of his career at .339. Abreu still possesses above-average defense, as he is ranked the second-best defensive right fielder in the American League this season behind Astros Cam Smith<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Roman Anthony<\/a> hasn’t played a game in over a month<\/a> after exiting the game against the Tigers on May 4th with a partially torn ligament in his right ring finger. Before the injury, it is safe to say Anthony hadn’t quite been living up to the high expectations placed on him by the front office and many fans. This season, Anthony has hit .229 with a .354 on-base percentage and just one home run in 109 plate appearances. His slugging percentage sits much lower at .321 than in his 2025 season, when he slugged .463. There’s no question the Red Sox are going to need Anthony to get his offensive numbers up when he returns from injury if they want to have any success this season.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ranger Suarez<\/a> was the big acquisition for the Red Sox this last off-season after failing to sign the big power bat they were looking for. The Boston Red Sox inked Suarez to a 5-year, $130 million contract to add to their already deep rotation. After a shaky start, Suarez has been lights out for Boston, pitching to a 3.18 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP in 65 innings so far. There is no doubt that Suarez has been a successful signing for the Red Sox.<\/p>\n Grade: A-<\/strong><\/p>\n It is tough to sit here and say Garrett Crochet<\/a> is having a bad year after being injured and making only six starts this season. Crochet was abysmal before going on the injured list, posting a 6.30 ERA in 30 innings pitched. There is no doubt Crochet will return to his former self, but if we are ranking solely on games played so far, it’s tough to give him anything other than the worst.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grade: F<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sonny Gray<\/a> was acquired from the St Louis. Cardinals this offseason. While many fans were unhappy with Gray possibly being the number two in this rotation before the signing of Ranger Suarez, Gray has proved he can be just that. In 11 starts this year, Gray has posted a 7-1 record with a 3.20 ERA along with a 1.24 WHIP. The veteran righty has proven to be a valuable arm for the Red Sox, and many teams may look to acquire him at the trade deadline if the Red Sox choose to sell<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grade: A-<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n At just 23 years old, Payton Tolle<\/a> hasn’t just been one of the best pitchers on the Red Sox but one of the best in all of baseball. Tolle didn’t start the year with the team, but after being called up and making eight starts thus far, Tolle has pitched to an elite 2.28 ERA with a 0.97 WHIP, placing him in the top ten in the league in both categories. Tolle also has an impressive 51 strikeouts over 47 innings, proving he can be the leader of this staff for years to come.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grade: A+<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another impressive young arm for the Red Sox is 24-year-old Connelly Early<\/a>. After making his Major League debut in 2025 and pitching in a wild-card game against the New York Yankees, Early has proven he is as advertised and a legit big-league arm. This season, Early has made 13 starts, posting a 3.30 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. There is no doubt Early will be a force in the Red Sox rotation for a long time, barring any trade for a proven offensive talent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grade: A-<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The one reliever we will look at today is Aroldis Chapman<\/a>, and rightfully so. It was going to be hard to replicate what the 2025 reliever of the year did last season, but he is well on his way to doing just that. This season, Chapman has pitched to a 0.46 ERA in 20 appearances while going a perfect 13-for-13 in saves. There will be many clubs out there bidding to acquire the left-handed flame thrower at the trade deadline, but the question is, will the Red Sox deal him<\/a>?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grade: A+<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Main Photo Credits: Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There’s no question that the 2026 Boston Red Sox haven’t lived up to expectations so far this season. Currently, the team sits at the bottom of the American League East, looking up once again at their division rivals. There are many things fans can point their fingers at to blame for the abysmal start to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5856,"featured_media":123598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1071],"tags":[209,3614,3029,4897,3009,650,28456],"class_list":["post-123584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-redsox","category-mlb","tag-aroldis-chapman","tag-garrett-crochet","tag-jarren-duran","tag-marcelo-mayer","tag-ranger-suarez","tag-sonny-gray","tag-wilyer-abreu"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5856"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123584"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123599,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123584\/revisions\/123599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Marcelo Mayer<\/h3>\n
Carlos Narvaez<\/h3>\n
Grade: F<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Caleb Durbin<\/h3>\n
Grade: D<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Jarren Duran<\/h3>\n
Grade: C<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Ceddanne Rafaela<\/h3>\n
Grade: B+<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Wilyer Abreu<\/h3>\n
Grade: B+<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Roman Anthony<\/h3>\n
Grade: C<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Ranger Suarez<\/h3>\n
Garrett Crochet<\/h3>\n
Sonny Gray<\/h3>\n
Payton Tolle<\/h3>\n
Connelly Early<\/h3>\n
Aroldis Chapman<\/h3>\n