The 2025 Boston Red Sox were, in many ways, an offensive tour de force.

They were a top-10 team in runs, RBI, stolen bases, and both on-base and slugging percentages, and top-five in hits and batting average. They led the majors in doubles for the 17th time in the last 25 seasons. They were the only team with multiple inside-the-park home runs, a niche, though perhaps skewed reminder of their athleticism.

Yet too often, the Red Sox were a frustrating example of wasted opportunities. Literally.

They were a top-10 team in leaving runners on base. They had more Productive Out opportunities than any other American League team, but the fourth-worst rate of Productive Outs success. They led the majors in plate appearances with no outs and a man on second, yet only the Colorado Rockies had a worse rate of runner advancement.

These are the ‘dualities’ that grate at the man tasked with running the offense.

“You look at the overarching hitting, for me, the fact that our group led baseball with opportunities to score runs, and we scored the most runs in those situations, is a really good place to begin,” Red Sox hitting coach Pete Fatse told the Herald earlier this month. “I think (it) comes down to understanding the context of the game, and what the game is requiring you to do in specific moments.”

That situational awareness was the missing piece a few too many times last year, he said.

“There’s times to take your shot, there’s times to emphasize putting the ball in place, there’s times to emphasize contact,” Fatse said. “The ability to create constant run-scoring states is really important, but I think continuing to emphasize – and we always do – runs is what we’re all about.

“Continuing to emphasize the process behind scoring runs, that’s something we talk about a lot. We’ll talk about our Plan A and our Plan B. And you have to have the ability – Trevor Story was a great example of that – you have to have the ability when the game calls, to get the guy in. Sometimes that requires you to try and hit a line-drive to right, or it’s a situation where maybe we’re sitting on a pitch, or something that specific.”

No other team lost more one-run games in which they stranded at least 10 men than the Red Sox. They were 23-27 in one-run games overall. Perhaps most mind-boggling is that they were only outscored 181-177 in such contests.

“It’s like a duality, right?” Fatse said. “Ten opportunities, it’s like, ‘Wow, there’s a lot of opportunity.’ … I think a lot of it, too, is the value of contact in those situations. And chase is important. If you’re in those positions and you’re expanding before two strikes, you hit with two strikes, that’s not a great way to convert a ton of runs. So how do we tighten up our approach in those situations? If I was going to say there’s one thing that’s a point of emphasis, I would probably target that.”

While the Red Sox made several spectacular comebacks last season, Fatse also pinpointed a pattern in their one-run games.

“I feel like a lot of times there’s usually a breaking point in the game,” he said. “Usually there’s a breaking point where it’s like, second and third, one out, and you hit the homer, you crack the game open, and it goes.

“Those moments, those are the things I look at (with) the end result. It turns into a three-run lead, or it stays neutral, and then you’re talking leverage matchups and it’s really hard to score. … You’re trying to win like three-inning increments: the early part, the middle part, the late part. I feel like my guess would be that if you look at those games, there were probably points in the middle three (innings) where you’re like, ‘OK, we had a chance to break this open, we didn’t.’ ”

Two Red Sox hitters, in particular, have Fatse excited for a fresh slate of games and break-open opportunities: Willson Contreras and Roman Anthony.

As Boston’s biggest position-player addition this offseason and a homegrown wunderkind whose rapid rise through the farm system was tracked with eagle eyes, respectively, Contreras and Anthony are something of an unexpected pairing.

What intrigues Fatse are the abilities and qualities inverse of each player’s respective station: how a proven veteran like Contreras can transform himself, and how a 21-year-old fresh out of rookie eligibility can carry himself the way Anthony does.

In his ninth big-league season, Contreras suddenly began pulling the ball in the air like never before. He pulled 15 of his 20 home runs, and had a 19.8% Pulled Air Rate last year, a sharp increase from his 13.3% in prior seasons. Wilyer Abreu and Alex Bregman were the only Red Sox players with higher marks last year. Only 33 of the 156 qualified right-handed hitters in the American League out-pulled Contreras.

The change stood out to his new manager, Alex Cora, and his new hitting coach, who know that righties who pull the ball in the air can be quite successful at a certain Boston ballpark.

“He jumped to (19.8%), which is significant,” Fatse said. “I think Fenway is going to present some opportunities for him to capitalize on that.”

“Also, too, he hits a lot of balls really hard, rocket line drives, like lasers,” Fatse continued. “But I think the reality is, it’s not just yes, he can pull the ball, but he can lead to center, he can drive the ball with authority to right. There’s power opportunities on all fields, and at the end of the day, we play 81 games at home, 81 games on the road.”

Anthony, meanwhile, is unlike any young player Fatse has ever known. The offensive profile is formidable, and Anthony is only just beginning to fully actualize his potential.

“He has power to all fields, he moves about fast and has real damage opportunity to all fields,” Fatse said. “Not only the swing stuff, but a lot of it’s the approach-related stuff, the intent-related stuff. I use the term ‘gambler,’ like just the gambles you’re willing to place, the bet you’re willing to place within at-bats when you’re looking for one thing, and you know you’re as good as he is, and he gets it, he’s going to finish the at-bat.”

But to Fatse and countless other members of the Red Sox, Anthony’s psyche and mindset are what make him unique.

“The kid is so mature,” Fatse said. “For a 21-year-old kid – I’ve been here for six years, I haven’t been around anybody like him at that age. He carries himself, not just his performance, but also just his demeanor is like a 30-year-old player in the big leagues, a guy who’s been here.

“I think the other thing I’ve really respected about him is, he doesn’t get too high or too low. He maintains an insane level of consistency, equilibrium.”

Fatse’s goal is to be able to say the same thing about this year’s Red Sox offense: consistency and equilibrium.