Nap's signed bat responsible for uptick in power

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Conor Frederick (@C_Frederick1016)
Contributing Writer

Mike Napoli went 9-21 (.429) with 5 home runs and 10 RBI's on the past home stand according to WEEI, and finally breaking out of his season-long slumpin the process. The reason? He asked a kid to sign his bat before Thursday night's game against the Texas Rangers.

WEEI:
“Sometimes there are kids in the dugout and I go up and have them sign my bat,” Napoli said. “It was kind of crazy, the first home run I hit the other day was where he actually signed it. It was pretty cool. I appreciate where he signed it.”

“It’s pretty cool,” he added. “Everyone is always asking for my autograph so I think it’s pretty cool to go up to a kid and say, ‘Hey, give me your autograph.’ They love that and they write their name on the bat in squiggle.”

The fan in question? His name is Ethan, age 9 (see tweet below from the Red Sox Twitter page).



The hot streak raised Napoli's line to .203/.304/.420, which marks the first time he cracked .200 all year. Pretty impressive.

The Red Sox look to get back on track tonight against the Minnesota Twins.