Sox hope new season brings new offensive approach

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NASHVILLE -- From 2003 through 2009, the Red Sox never had a team on-base percentage lower than .351. Then they began to dip in 2010 (.339). While they had a bounce-back year in 2011 (.349), they really bottomed out last year and had a team-wide OBP of just .315, ranking them 10th in the American League.
Their aim this offseason is to change that,

Two of the big free agents signings -- Jonny Gomes and Mike Napoli -- are both known for their ability to get on base and the Sox want to get back to emphasizing that, n addition to working pitchers, driving up pitch counts and grinding out at-bats.

"One of the things we've talked about," said general manager Ben Cherington, "and we talked to new hitting coach Greg Colbrunn and assistant hitting coach Victor Rodriguez through the interviewing process about the team's offensive approach. It's trusting the guy behind you, getting the pitch to hit, and if you can, drive it. If you can't, take it and trust the guy behind you. We've done that really well when we've been good and we didn't do it as well last year.

"We need to do that better, not just by bringing in the right guys, but by preaching that and really believing in it."

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