Brandon Synder's call-up a surprise to him

Photo from Providence Journal

Brandon Synder has been called up to replace the struggling Will Middlebrooks, which I think surprised a lot of people. According to ESPN Boston, he is only .125 on Pawtucket's recent road trip, which, as anyone who knows baseball can tell you, isn't good. But sometimes young guys thrive in the major leagues after struggling in the minors (see: Jose Iglesias - he hit .202 at Pawtucket and .434 with Boston) and maybe that will be the case with Snyder. That is, if he can find some playing time. Right now, Iglesias is the clear favorite at 3rd, but Snyder can also play 1st. Playing time will be hard to come by there as well, though with Mike Napoli and Mike Carp ahead of him at 1st.

But the point of the call up might not be about playing time. It's most likely to bring up a back up into the squad in case something happens to Iglesias, while Middlebrooks gets his swing together. Like I mentioned, playing time will hard to come by for Synder unless there is an injury ahead of him. He has had experience in the majors, though, as he has hit .276 in 56 games and that is why John Farrell called him up instead of a young guy, according to ESPN Boston. If you're gonna call someone up to be an emergency backup, better to call someone up with limited experience than a young guy with no experience that might not be able to deal with the pressure. That's just one man's opinion, though. Let me know what you think below or tweet me @ConorJF1016.

Conor Frederick
Contributing Writer