Kristian Campbell can play almost any position – and has – but on Friday afternoon he began working somewhere new.
As Red Sox teammates and staff, including manager Alex Cora, looked on, the rookie went through first-base drills.
Sitting in the Fenway dugout before the Braves series opener, Campbell said Friday was the first time anyone mentioned playing first base to him.
“I’m not sure exactly what the plans are, but something I definitely have to get used to,” Campbell said, explaining that his conversation with Cora centered around his “versatility.” His manager’s message was more “let’s give this a try,” than a set plan to move him to first base.
Though primarily a middle infielder, Campbell has also played the outfield throughout college at Georgia Tech, the minors, and these first months in the majors. Since making his big-league debut on Opening Day, Campbell has played six games in the outfield (five starts), but spent the bulk of his time playing second base (33 starts, 30 complete games). He’s looking forward to adding another position to his repertoire.
“I think this is my last position I needed to learn out of all of them, so I get to knock it off my bucket list for sure,” Campbell said earnestly, before being reminded that catcher remains uncharted territory.
This is the newest development in a chaotic scramble to replace first baseman Triston Casas, who suffered a season-ending ruptured patellar tendon on May 2. In the immediate aftermath of Casas’ injury, the Red Sox called up veteran Abraham Toro to share the workload with fellow utility-man Romy Gonzalez.
The Toro-Gonzalez tandem lasted barely a week before the latter landed on the 10-day injured list with a left-quad contusion on May 10. The Red Sox then called up Nick Sogard for the first time this season. Sogard, who debuted last Aug. 2, entered Friday’s Braves series opener with five career big-league games (four starts) at first base, almost matching his minor-league experience at the position (six games, five starts).
In between, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow approached Rafael Devers about potentially playing first base. Their conversation led to a tense media session following the last game of the previous home stand. As teammates listened around the clubhouse, Devers called out the front office and spoke about feeling like he couldn’t trust the Red Sox to ‘keep their word,’ because they had already forced him to move from third-base to designated hitter during spring training.
“Looking for options,” Cora said of Campbell. “Obviously, we’re getting Romy, probably at the end of the week, early next week, but just introducing (Campbell) to first base, and see how he looks. That’s where we’re at.”
As to whether this means the Red Sox are no longer considering having Devers learn a new position, “That doesn’t have to do with Raffy,” was all Cora would say.
MLB’s percentile rankings don’t paint the most flattering portrait of Campbell’s defense, but the small sample size indicates that he can be successful playing first base: according to Statcast’s Outs Above Average, he’s been stronger playing laterally toward first (plus-1 OAA) than toward third (minus-4).
“It definitely helps a lot, being on the same side as second base, so it’s not completely different,” Campbell explained. “It is a little awkward. It looks a little bit different, but the more and more I’m over there working on it, the better it’ll get.”
His manager isn’t concerned, either.
“The numbers don’t back him up, but I think he’s been good at turning double plays, he’s been good to his left, I think honestly, more work to his right,” Cora assessed of Campbell’s second-base performance thus far. “He’s just an athlete, he’s played all over the place, and he’s learning how to play second base at this level.”
Campbell doesn’t have his own first-base glove yet, so he had to borrow one from first-base coach José Flores. The rookie is comfortable with ‘Flo,’ who coached him in Triple-A last year.
“It helps a lot,” Campbell said. “He definitely knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the infield and everything, and just teaching me one step at a time, whether it’s second base, first base, shortstop or third base.”
It’s unclear how long the Red Sox will have Campbell work at first before actually taking off the training wheels.
“It can take 10 days, 15 days, a month, two months, but we started the process,” Cora said.
“Obviously it’s gonna take some time, but it’s something I wanted to do to help the team win,” Campbell said.
Asked which position is his favorite, Campbell said, “Whatever makes the team better, that’s the position I play.”
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