Third baseman Caleb Durbin, who currently ranks dead last among qualified hitters in wRC+, is not in the Boston Red Sox lineup on Wednesday, May 20, against the Kansas City Royals.
Interim manager Chad Tracy benched Durbin for two games recently as he endures a brutal stretch at the plate. The infielder was back in the lineup in the club’s last game. Durbin delivered an RBI single in yesterday’s 7-1 win over the Royals. He’s out of the lineup again tonight, with Nick Sogard handling the hot corner.
In his first season with the Red Sox, Durbin has slashed .169 .248 .246 across 44 games. His 38 wRC+ is 173rd out of 173 hitters with enough at-bats to qualify for the league leaderboard. Durbin’s .495 OPS is 23 points lower than the next qualified hitter (TJ Friedl of the Cincinnati Reds). For context, Joey Ortiz of the Milwaukee Brewers ranked dead last in OPS last season at .593. Ke’Bryan Hayes of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Brenton Doyle of the Colorado Rockies tied for the worst wRC+ at 65.
Boston Red Sox Bench Scuffling Caleb Durbin Against the Kansas City Royals
Durbin recently opened up about his offensive struggles in his first season with the club. The 26-year-old came over in an offseason trade with the Brewers. Boston also received infielders Andruw Monasterio and Anthony Seigler. Milwaukee acquired infielder David Hamilton and left-handers Kyle Harrison and Shane Drohan.
It’s easy to see why Boston was intrigued by the young infielder. Durbin delivered a solid 105 wRC+ in 136 games with Milwaukee as a rookie last season. He popped 11 home runs and stole 18 bases. Durbin provided contributions at multiple infield spots, making starts at second base, third base, and shortstop. The solid offensive production combined with the defensive versatility was enough for the Red Sox to part with a useful infielder in Hamilton and a former high-upside arm in Harrison.
Boston had a hole at third base after failing to re-sign Alex Bregman in free agency. Bregman was excellent when healthy in his lone season with the Red Sox. The veteran slashed .273/.360/.462 in 114 games with the club. Bregman opted out of his Boston deal to ink a massive five-year, $175 million contract with the Chicago Cubs. Losing Bregman and also failing to orchestrate a Eugenio Suarez trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks left Boston to fill the void at the hot corner via the trade market.
Harrison Taking Off with the Brewers
The Durbin trade stings even more for Boston, considering Harrison’s breakout performance with the Brewers. The lefty has allowed two earned runs or fewer in all eight starts this season. Harrison has a healthy 30% strikeout rate and a pristine 2.09 ERA. He won’t continue to limit runs at that clip, but the underlying metrics back up his performance. Harrison has a strong 3.14 SIERA and a solid 3.32 xERA.
Harrison only made three appearances with the Red Sox after coming over from the San Francisco Giants in the Rafael Devers trade. He posted a 3.00 ERA across 12 innings. He struck out more than a batter per inning in his brief time in the organization. Milwaukee has clearly unlocked another level for the 24-year-old, who was a top prospect in the San Francisco system.
Red Sox Bench Worst Hitter in League Against Royals