The Boston Red Sox reportedly named third baseman Brett Lawrie as their team captain after their 7-4 loss to the rival New York Yankees at Fenway Park. Lawrie went 0-3 with a strikeout in the game.The loss left Red Sox with a 4-10 record and trailing the division leading Rays by 7 games. It was a bad loss for the Red Sox, gaving up a big lead going into the 8th and a 4-3 lead heading into the 9th. It was the Red Sox 4th loss in a row, matching their longest losing streak of the season. The Red Sox now must win their next game in order not to be swept at home by the Yankees.



Naming Lawrie as the team captain came as a surprise to everyone. Lawrie has been one of the worst players on a bad Red Sox hitting team where it seems like almost everyone is slumping. Hitting in the third spot, Lawrie has a .140 average and an OPS of .480 in 13 games. He also only has 2 HRs and 4 RBIs with a low 60% stolen base rate. Besides his struggles at the plate, Lawrie (age 21) is the youngest player in the Red Sox organization. So it caught almost everyone off guard when Lawrie was named captain.



When I asked the Red Sox team owner, Nicka, how the older players on the team responded to him naming Lawrie the team captain, Nicka responded saying "all the players respect my decision. After we drafted our full team and started practicing together, many players came to me raving about how mature Lawrie is and how they expected him to come in feeling entitled, being our teams 1st overall pick, but he wasn't at all. Instead, I was told he was respectful and honest and I know he works harder to get better than any other player I've ever met."



Nicka also responded to why he named Lawrie captain now, especially after all of his current struggles during his first year with the Red Sox. "I thought about naming him captain at the start of the season but decided against it. Now after 14 games, I decided we needed some leadership from the players. And Lawrie is the heart of this team. When he plays well, we win. And when he doesn't, we don't. Its as simply as that. And I know being captain won't get to his head. He likes to lead with example so being named captain will only make him work harder. And that's really what I want in a leader so I don't care if he's 21 or 41."



But Lawrie wasn't really happy after the game, despite being named captain. "Yeah, its cool but I would have rather beaten the Yankees. Don't get me wrong, i'm honored but I'm getting paid to win games. And that's my main goal at the end of the day."



I also asked Lawrie if he was surprised, particularly because of his poor season so far. "Yeah, it definitely was a bit of a surprise. Especially because I've had a horrible season so far. I'll be the first to admit it because I have not played nearly as well as what is expected of me. But I'm just going to work even harder to get out of this slump and lead my team to the playoffs. I've started working with our hitting coach everyday and so I know i'll turn things around. By season's end, I still expect to be the AL MVP."



Before the season started, Lawrie signed a massive $45 million deal for 5 years. It is tied for the second most expensive deal in the MLB, trailing only Miguel Cabrera's $50 million contract signed by the Rangers. It will be interesting if the Red Sox's newest captain can prove he's worth the money.