Munoz providing unexpected pop for the Red Sox

Most Red Sox fans had never heard of Yairo Munoz before this week. Heading to Sunday, he’s been the team’s biggest offensive threat.

Munoz had the game-winning in Saturday’s 9-8 win over Toronto and in five games the 25-year old is hitting a robust .450 with an otherworldly 1.200 OPS. He’s got three doubles, one run run, has driven in four and scored four, which is pretty terrific production from the end of the lineup.

"Munoz is bringing tremendous [...]

Most Red Sox fans had never heard of Yairo Munoz before this week. Heading to Sunday, he’s been the team’s biggest offensive threat.

Munoz had the game-winning in Saturday’s 9-8 win over Toronto and in five games the 25-year old is hitting a robust .450 with an otherworldly 1.200 OPS. He’s got three doubles, one run run, has driven in four and scored four, which is pretty terrific production from the end of the lineup.

"Munoz is bringing tremendous amount of energy to the team and excitement. He’s gotten off to a hot start and I think like Ron said it was nice to see somebody just get hot and help carry the team for a couple of days," Hyers said. "He’s a guy if they throw the ball over the plate, he’s a guy that’s going to put it into play hard."

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The math says the gaudy numbers will start to fall – if they don’t he can start prepping his speech for Cooperstown – but Hyers and Munoz have had talks on how to make sure they don’t fall off the earth.

"He’s got some areas of improvement that we see. He’s got to manage the strike zone and he’s talked about that in the past that it’s kind of a weakness of his," Hyers said. "I think if he manages the strike zone, gets pitches he can hit, he’s going to be a good hitter, but that’s like everybody in this league. The league will make adjustments and he’s a guy who’s going to have to make those adjustments to stay consistent."

His hot bat has been rewarded. Roenicke debated about having Christian Vazquez lead off with Kevin Plawecki behind him – partially to give a unique catcher-catcher start at the top of the order that you don’t see often – but slid Munoz into the top spot for Sunday’s game.

"Munoz, sometimes getting a guy that’s hot, he is a little scary too because you have to be careful with him leading off," Roenicke said. "We’ll see what happens."

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