2014 Red Sox Opening Day Roster Set

The 2014 Opening Day roster for the defending world champion Boston Red Sox has been set by manager John Farrell.

2013 World Champion Boston Red Sox On-Field Celebration

The defending 2013 world champion Boston Red Sox are set to open the 2014 regular reason tomorrow in Baltimore against the Orioles, an American League East division rival. The Red Sox, who surpassed the expectations of most prognosticators last season to win their third World Series in ten seasons, will be managed for a second year by John Farrell. After finishing the opening series, Boston will open Fenway Park this Friday versus the Milwaukee Brewers.

Many familiar faces remain on the roster from last season, including designated hitter and World Series MVP David Ortiz, second baseman Dustin Pedroia, outfielder Shane Victorino, starting pitchers Jon LesterJohn Lackey, and Clay Buchholz, and closer Koji Uehara. Another familiar face who returns as a starter will be shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who is the youngest player to open the season at that position for the Red Sox since Everett Scott in 1914, according to Gorden Edes at ESPNBoston.com.

Some of the new faces include veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynski, outfielder Grady Sizemore, and reliever Edward Mujica. In what was a relatively quiet spring, Sizemore was the big story; returning to baseball after being limited to 112 games between 2010-2011 and no games over the past two season, he outperformed expectations and displaced Jackie Bradley, the expected starting center fielder, from the major league roster.

Here is the complete Opening Day roster for Boston:

Pitchers (12)
Burke Badenhop, Clay Buchholz, Chris Capuano, Felix Doubront, John Lackey, Jon Lester, Andrew Miller, Edward Mujica, Jake Peavy, Junichi Tazawa, Koji Uehara, and Brandon Workman

Catchers (2)
A.J. Pierzynski and David Ross

Infielders (5)
Xander Bogaerts, Jonathan Herrera, Will Middlebrooks, Mike Napoli, and Dustin Pedroia

Outfielders (5)
Mike CarpJonny Gomes, Daniel Nava, Grady Sizemore, and Shane Victorino

Designated Hitter (1)
David Ortiz

Pitchers Craig Breslow and Steven Wright will begin the season on the disabled list.

Author: fenfan

Lifelong Boston Red Sox fan, weekend web developer, and badly in need of sleep