Curtis Mead could end up being one of the biggest power answers for the Boston Red Sox in 2027, and he comes with the kind of upside that makes him a real wild card.
Boston has made it clear coming out of the 2026 season that adding power is back at the top of the checklist. That conversation started last offseason and never really went away. The club still needs help, especially if it wants a regular presence at designated hitter, but there’s already more thump in the organization now than there was a year ago, largely because of the trade deadline moves.
Mead is a big reason why.
Red Sox fans barely got a look at him in Boston, since he played just one game for the club before a wrist injury hit him on a pitch. But what he did with the Washington Nationals before the trade showed why the organization targeted him in the first place. In 87 games in 2026, Mead hit .254/.352/.500 with an .852 OPS, 17 home runs and 48 RBIs.
That production jumps off the page when you stretch it over a full season. His 17 homers in 87 games work out to a 31-homer pace over 162 games.
His 48 RBIs project to 89 over a full year. Those numbers would have easily sat near the top of Boston’s power leaderboard.
Willson Contreras led the Red Sox with 27 home runs in 2026. Wilyer Abreu was next at 24, Jarren Duran finished third with 20, and nobody else got above 16. Mead’s pace would have topped them all.
That’s why he matters so much heading into 2027. If Mead stays healthy, he doesn’t just deepen the lineup - he gives Boston a legitimate power jump without needing to lean entirely on outside additions. He was healthy enough to be activated in the wild-card series against the New York Yankees, which at least suggests he’s back on track after the wrist injury.
For a Red Sox team still looking for more pop, Mead already looks like the kind of bat that can change the conversation fast.
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Now comes the quiet update: Durbin underwent a procedure last week to reconstruct the PIP joint in his left pinky, a reminder of just how much he played through over the summer. The lingering concern is less about what he gave Boston this year than what comes next, since the injury traces back to the partial dislocation he suffered in late June and leaves one more checkpoint before the club can fully move on from it. [Read more 🡒]