To succeed as a baseball player in Boston, you have to have a way of dealing with the scrutiny of the fan base. This and what follows are things I think are true, but couldn’t prove to you. Consider it all well-considered opinion.
I think there are two personalities that can handle this well. I’ll call them the Cool Type and the Hot Type.
The Cool Type is calm, cool, and collected. Nothing fazes them. Criticism just slides right off like they don’t hear it. They succeed by shutting out the noise. On the Red Sox, this is Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, Ranger Suarez, and maybe Masataka Yoshida.
The Hot Type is energetic and unapologetic. They hear the noise, and they feed off its energy, often even when the noise is critical of them. On the Red Sox, this is Willson Contreras, Wilyer Abreu, Peyton Tolle, and now Anthony Seigler too.
Other players who aren’t either type may succeed by following the lead of their Hot Type or Cool Type teammates.
All players will have some ability to shut out bad noise and feed off good noise. It’s just that some fit one archetype better than the other, and then that’s what everyone around them sees.
I think a team can succeed with a mixture of both types. Hot Types bring the energy when things are feeling lackluster. Cool Types provide the even keel when things are rough, the “everything’s going to be alright” mindset when worry sets in and potentially becomes self-defeating.
This year the Cool Types weren’t doing much. When Anthony Seigler showed up in June, I think the Hot Types reached a critical mass, and things took off. It helps that many players around them play with a lot of energy – Durbin, Duran, and now Cheng too. Rafaela plays with energy when it’s called for too, but the rest of the time seems to have that calm demeanor as well. Hard to place him.
Regardless, I think part of the magic of this run is that every position player on this current roster responds well to Hot Type leadership that Willson Contreras and others are providing. They’re feeding off all the energy around them, and no place provides more energy than a full Fenway Park when their Red Sox are on a winning streak and surging in the standings.
I don’t think Mayer and Anthony necessarily have an attitude problem, as some people are suggesting, just because they don’t fit the current clubhouse chemistry. They’re just a different type than what’s working so well for the Red Sox right now. Not saying the attitude problem isn’t there, either. It’s possible the whole “Big 3” thing went to their heads too much. But let’s not jump to that conclusion too hastily. For now, Hot is working for the Red Sox, but they may need to bring back some more Cool later on to get the best balance.
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