Having spent parts of the 2019-21 seasons together on the Houston Astros, Alex Bregman is uniquely qualified to talk about what Abraham Toro brings to a team.
Ahead of Toro’s first Red Sox start on Tuesday, Bregman gave his once-again teammate a rave review.
“He’s a baseball player, competitor, he’s gonna do whatever it takes to help the team win,” the third baseman told the Herald, “a guy with pop from both sides of the plate, will throw a great at-bat on you, play good defense at multiple positions across the field, he’s a tough out, and just adding a tough out to the lineup is awesome.”
Bregman played the vast majority of his nine-year Astros career at third base (1,030 games), but he also took several turns at shortstop (129 games). One of the latter contests stands out to him: Sept. 1, 2019, just over a week after Toro’s big-league debut, when the Astros were playing in his native Canada. Starting at shortstop, Bregman watched his new teammate make the difference defensively and offensively in an enormous 2-0 win.
“(Justin) Verlander threw a no-hitter in Toronto,” Bregman recalled, “Toro hit a home run, actually, to give us the lead, and the last play of the game was hit to him, too, and he made the play.”
Indeed, Toro’s ninth inning homer – which drove in Bregman, who’d doubled – put the Astros on top. Moments later, the rookie fielded Bo Bichette’s ground-out to complete the game.
“Just being his teammate for so long, I know how much preparation and hard work he puts into the game, and how focused he is on a daily basis, so I love being his teammate,” Bregman said.
He’s confident Red Sox fans will love Toro, too.
“He plays hard, he loves the game, he plays the game the right way. He’s a hard worker, and that will show.”
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