FORT MYERS, Fla. — Brock Holt asked Red Sox Manager Alex Cora to meet with him last spring and explain whether he was in jeopardy of not making Boston’s Opening Day roster.

“We had a little sit down last year just to just to kind of talk about what was going on because obviously you read things, you hear things,” said Holt. “Up until I saw the news and read the rumors, I felt like I was in a pretty good spot. But yeah, baseball’s crazy, man. It’s a crazy game. One minute you’re feeling good about yourself and the next day you can be at the bottom of the barrel.”

Holt was hoping Cora would quell the rumors. The manager didn’t though.

“He said, ‘Hey, man. We think you’re a good player but we’ve got to play it out and see what happens,'” Holt recalled. “Obviously I wanted to go in there and I wanted him to say, ‘Hey, man. Don’t worry about it.’ But you want to get the truth. I had so much respect for him already. But for him to go in there and be honest with me and just let me know, that’s all you want as a player. You want to know what’s going on, whether you like it or you don’t. You want to be told the truth. And that’s what he did.”

What a difference one year makes. Holt was coming off two injury-riddled seasons in 2016 and ’17. He and Deven Marrero were competing for the final utility spot on Boston’s 2018 Opening Day 25-man roster. Holt eventually won the job. Boston traded Marrero, a 2012 first-round draft pick, to the Diamondbacks on March 24.

Holt’s a lock to make the 2019 Opening Day roster. And so this spring training camp has a different feel.

The Red Sox certainly made the right decision between Holt and Marrero. Holt returned to full health in 2018 – and he went on to become one of Boston’s top vocal leaders during its World Series championship season. He enjoys joking, being loud, having fun, cheering teammates and making other players and even fans laugh.

He’s that same loud, energetic Brock Holt again this spring training.

He certainly made everyone, including fans, laugh when he chose Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” as his first walk-up song at Fenway Park in 2018. The first time it played was during the eighth inning April 8 against the Rays. A six-run rally ensued. The Red Sox turned a 7-2 deficit into an 8-7 victory.

Holt shared his necklace with J.D. Martinez as a good luck charm and began giving the slugger “jump hugs” in the dugout after every Martinez home run.

He always dressed in some hilarious outfit for the Red Sox’s themed trips.

Cora called Holt one of the team’s leader at a press conference early in spring training.

“It’s good to hear those words from your manager and your teammates,” Holt said. “I just try to have a good time and be here for whoever it is and root for whoever’s out there playing. I feel like last year I was able to be more myself because I was healthy. I felt good. I felt like I could go out and do what I was capable of doing. The previous two years I wasn’t as vocal. I wasn’t as outgoing because I was fighting some things that I was going through. Kind of my whole mindset was completely changed last year because I was healthy – and I was having so much fun.”

Concussions and vertigo sidelined Holt for lengthy periods of 2016 and ’17. But he remained convinced he still could produce like he did in 2015 when he batted .280 with a .349 on-base percentage and 35 extra-base hits in 129 games. He made the 2015 AL All-Star team.

Holt – who deleted his Twitter account in 2017 when he grew tired of some fans trolling him and telling him he no longer was a good player – read articles online last spring about how he no longer was the same player.

“I’ve always enjoyed being here,” Holt said. “Last year (at this time) was no different. Obviously the rumors were, am I going to make the team? Am I going to have a spot? This and that. But there wasn’t a negative thought towards being here.”

Holt proved his doubters wrong in 2018. He set career highs in OPS (.774), on-base percentage (.362), slugging percentage (.411), home runs (7, tied) and RBI (46). He slashed .354/.456/.667/1.123 with four homers, three doubles and 13 RBI in 57 plate appearances during September. He became the first player in Major League Baseball history to hit for the cycle in a postseason game. And he did it at Yankee Stadium.

Holt is eligible for free agency after this season. He’s one of nine Red Sox pending free agents, including Martinez, who’s able to opt out of the remaining three years of his five-year, $110-million contract.

Holt wants to stay in Boston for the rest of his career.

“I love this team,” Holt said. “I love my teammates, the coaching staff, Fenway Park, Boston the city. I’m a big part of the Jimmy Fund. So that plays a part in it. Everybody talks about the baseball aspect. But there’s a lot of things we get involved with off the field that are just as important to us. And that’s one of those things. So for me, if I play anywhere else I’m not going to get to be a part of that. And that’s kind of become a big part of who I am over these last few years.”

Holt enjoyed himself in 2018. He plans to enjoy himself again in 2019.

His productive 2018 season both on and off the field began after an honest conversation with Cora. Holt remembers it as a “great talk” and the starting point to his strong relationship with the manager.

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