BOSTON -- As Red Sox third-base coach Brian Butterfield stood at the clubhouse entrance, he attempted to answer a question that sounded simple enough on the surface: What parts of shortstop Xander Bogaerts' game have improved the most?
As it turned out, highlighting just one or two areas proved impossible for Butterfield. The 22-year-old Bogaerts has taken giant steps forward in almost every aspect of his play this season, and the transformation had his infield instructor offering lavish praise.
"You want me to keep going?" Butterfield asked at one point. "Because everything that everybody in the organization has strived to have him elevate, he has.