Before the Red Sox began their season-saving turnaround, Craig Breslow came under heavy fire for trading Kyle Harrison, a once-dominant but now-injured young pitcher for Milwaukee, for Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio and some other stuff. But Harrison has tailed off as of late, and Durbin has really turned his season around. But the real prize (maybe), and a member the “other stuff” in that deal? A switch-hitting, switch-throwing second baseman: Anthony Seigler.
Wait, switch throwing? Hello? As far as I can tell, there are only two switch-throwing players in MLB history, both currently active and both totally awesome: Seigler and Carlos Cortes on the Athletics. But Cortes only hits left, making Seigler the only switch-hitting, switch-throwing player ever. I’m sure there are others (there are like 23,000 players in MLB history), but Tony Seigs is the only one in my records. What a concept.
Seigler has saved Boston's injured middle infield from disaster
You obviously can’t (or at least shouldn’t) play second base left-handed, but Seigler has caught righty and played outfield lefty as a prospect. On official listings, it says “Bats: Switch/Throws: Switch.” Regardless of what actually happens, that’s awesome. But Seigler has been so much more than an ambidextrous oddity: he’s been the savior of the Red Sox middle infield, and a heck of a spark plug for their turnaround.
Seigler has played 20 games so far this season, and after a rip-roaring start has cooled off slightly at the plate. But we’re talking the smallest of small sample sizes here, and Seigler’s contract quality has actually been slowly improving as he gets more Major League at-bats, punctuated by a game-clinching two-run homer for Boston’s seventh-straight win. He’s saved the middle infield from total collapse after Trevor Story and Marcelo Mayer both went down to injury (and weren’t any good beforehand anyhow).
Seigler is one of several utility players scraping together runs for Boston
Seigler has never had anything resembling above-average power as a minor leaguer, but he always managed to get on base. He’s a former Yankees prospect that bounced around, and is now making an impact for a team trying to fix itself. Because of the tiny sample size, I don’t have a lot of usable data to make broad proscriptions about who Tony Seigs is or isn’t, but it’s a great story. “Switch-throwing” is all you had to say.
But he’s not alone: the Red Sox have cobbled together Ws with an army of utility men replacing injured everyday players. Monasterio and Seigler came over together, but let’s not forget about Nate Eaton, Masataka Yoshida and Tsung-Che Cheng, all of whom have made serious contributions during this run. It’s not rocket science, but it is excellent situational hitting. Quality at-bats, competitive play that supports elite pitching. That is, somehow, a winning formula, and Seigler is a member of the new-age Red Sox — a team playing great with room to improve.
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