Women and gents, the Boston Pink Sox have a 3rd baseman!
As first reported by Jeff Passan (who else?) the Pink Sox have acquired 25-year-old Caleb Durbin in a commerce with the Milwaukee Brewers. Heading the opposite manner are Kyle Harrison, David Hamilton, and Shane Drohan.
We’ll have extra on Durbin quickly, however the fast and soiled is that he performs a place of want, bats from the proper aspect of the plate, and had a powerful if unspectacular rookie yr for the Brewers in 2025, slashing .256/.338/.387 with 11 homers and 18 steals in 136 video games. His OPS+ was proper at league common at 101, whereas his WAR numbers have been 2.8 from Baseball Reference and a pair of.6 from FanGraphs.
As his slash line exhibits, Durbin has little or no energy. His offensive worth comes from a very good batting eye and a close to elite capacity to make contact and keep away from strikeouts. The 9.9% strikeout price he posted final yr would have simply been the most effective mark on the Pink Sox, practically two full factors decrease than the following finest price, posted by Masataka Yoshida. He’s a pull hitter so shifting to Fenway may give him a lift within the energy division, however don’t count on an excessive amount of there, as Durbin is simply 5’7 and has an especially gradual bat. He simply doesn’t hit the ball arduous in any respect.
Defensively, he’s nonetheless studying to play third after bouncing across the diamond all through the minors (the place he really spent extra time at second). He doesn’t have a very robust arm and he had precisely zero Outs Above Common final yr, making him (duh) precisely common within the discipline. On condition that he’s nonetheless comparatively new to the place, there is likely to be some room for progress there.
Coming alongside to Boston within the deal will probably be Andruw Monasterio, a 28-year-old infielder who has been a Quad-A sort for many of his profession, Anthony Siegler, a 26-year-old who has break up most of his minor league innings between catcher and second base, and a compensation spherical draft decide. I wouldn’t get too enthusiastic about both Monasterio or Siegler — there’s a very good likelihood the Brewers would have DFA’d each of them within the close to future.
So right here we go: Spring Coaching is getting underway and it seems to be like Craig Breslow is completed for now. Durbin fills a necessity, however he’s not precisely the bat the Pink Sox wished going into the offseason. Carry us now, Roman Anthony.
