Nick Sogard is making his case as a major leaguer.
It’s only been 11 days since his promotion from Triple A Worcester, and Friday night against the Astros, Sogard recorded two runs, a double, a walk, and a stolen base, becoming the first Red Sox to do so in a game within their first six career games since Ty LaForest in 1945.
His call-up came after four straight months with at least 20 hits in Worcester — between April and July, Sogard had 93 hits and 12 home runs in 331 at-bats, and was batting .279/.382/.439.
The second baseman was producing strong numbers in Worcester for more than two seasons, making him one of WooSox manager Chad Tracy’s most-awaited promotions. Tracy wasn’t the only manager in the Sox organization to pick up on Sogard — at spring training earlier this year, Red Sox manager Alex Cora recognized the 26-year-old’s skills quickly.
“The at-bat is real, man,” Cora said before Saturday’s game against the Astros. “Taking his walks, he’s not chasing pitches, he showed this in spring training, but roster-wise it didn’t make sense. But I do believe the timing was perfect, as far as being patient and him developing in Triple A, working a few things, and he earned it.”
Sogard was promoted from Worcester on July 31 and made his MLB debut August 2 at Globe Life Field against the Rangers, starting at second base and batting eighth. He lined a two-run single to right field in his second at-bat as a major leaguer.
Sogard was solid in his Fenway Park debut Friday night, going 2 for 3 with two runs, but struggled in Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the Astros, striking out in all three at-bats before being pinch hit for by Romy Gonzalez with two outs in the ninth inning. It was the first time he did not reach safely since his promotion.
He had difficulty connecting with pitches all afternoon, recording two swinging strikeouts in the third and fifth innings against starting righthander Spencer Arrighetti, and was caught looking by reliever Bryan Abreu in the eighth. Sogard swung mostly at Arrighetti’s cutters, which ranged from 87-89.6 miles per hour, but struggled to get a handle on Abreu’s slider, not swinging once during the five-pitch at-bat.
“Probably just not my best day,” Sogard said. “A couple of those pitches were balls called strikes. I think maybe a combination of [those] two things, but, yeah, just bounce back, try and get them tomorrow.”
Despite a less-than-stellar performance Saturday, the addition of Sogard to the 40-man roster could bring a sense of stability to the question mark of second base, the Sox’ weakest position.
Entering Saturday, Boston had a -1.3 fWAR at second base, the lowest in the league, and were tied with the Rockies for the second lowest OPS at the position (.598), according to FanGraphs. The Diamondbacks lead in both fWAR and OPS at second base, with 5.3 and .814, respectively. Sogard’s abilities both offensively and defensively make him attractive to the Sox.
“The at-bat is a good one. Having a switch-hitter helps, especially how we use our roster. We don’t have to make a decision with [Sogard] when they bring in a lefty,” Cora explained.
Cora is a fan of Sogard’s plate appearances, but he also stressed his talent on the field. After Gonzalez entered Friday’s game as a pinch hitter in the seventh and stayed in the game at second base, Sogard moved from second to shortstop for the last two innings of the game, and made the transition between positions easily.
“He’s a good defender, too,” Cora said. “He doesn’t have the range of some others, but out conversion is good. He turns the double play. Yesterday he played great at [shortstop].”
In the 11 days that Sogard has been with the Red Sox, seven have been on the road, but the second baseman says he feels better every day, and is batting .280/.379/.320.
“I think it’s obviously a small sample size, but definitely growing more comfortable day-to-day, even today, not a great day, but I’m feeling comfortable just kind of playing how I play,” Sogard said. “So hopefully, kind of continue to settle in. I think I play more of a steady, kind of everyday grind brand of baseball in general, so kind of just settle back into that.”
For now, he’s just happy to be here.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Sogard said. “Everyone in the clubhouse and the staff has made me feel really welcome. So I’ve been having fun just trying to kind of embrace it all.”
Sarah Barber can be reached at sarah.barber@globe.com.