Boston Red Sox
“Obviously, long way to go, but he was a dude that I really enjoyed watching.”
New Red Sox addition Caleb Durbin may not be the most imposing figure on the baseball diamond.
But, the 5-foot-7 infield is a strong defender and tenacious presence at the plate — similar in some respects to former Red Sox great Dustin Pedroia.
As such, it shouldn’t come as much of a shock that Durbin admitted on Wednesday to taking inspiration from the former All-Star second baseman.
“He was definitely one of my favorite players growing up. A guy I definitely try to model my game around, ”Durbin said Wednesday at JetBlue Park. “Obviously, long way to go, but he was a dude that I really enjoyed watching.”
It remains to be seen if Durbin will follow in Pedroia’s footsteps and play second base for Boston.
The Red Sox have vacancies at both second and third, with both Durbin and Marcelo Mayer likely the next men up to man those respective spots in the infield.
Durbin, who finished in third place in the NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2025, is looking forward to meeting Pedroia at some point now that he calls Boston home.
“I’m sure we’ll have a lot of conversations,“ Durbin said. “He’s a similar guy, similar profile to me as far as size goes. So a lot of conversation about stuff like that and how he was able to overcome a lot in his life and be a superstar. I only hope to be a little bit like that. So it’s definitely going to be fun talking to him.”
Durbin, acquired by Boston as part of a six-player trade with the Brewers on Monday, projects to be a plus-defender across the infield and a player who can grind out at-bats while limiting strikeouts (50 across 506 plate appearances in 2025).
As more of a traditional pull hitter, the right-handed Durbin is looking forward to calling Fenway Park home moving forward.
Even with his low whiff rate and ability to square up pitches, Durbin doesn’t exactly have a lot of pop at the plate, as he only slugged 11 home runs and posted a .387 slugging percentage across 136 games with Milwaukee last season.
Beyond getting a chance to club pitches up or over the Green Monster, Durbin believes he can generate more power moving forward in what will stand as just his second full season in the big leagues.
“I was pleased with bat-to-ball, strikeouts and stuff,” Durbin said. “Was able to play at this level and I was just continuing to push the envelope of batted balls, exit velo, all that stuff. Bat speed. Those are stuff that’s kind of low hanging fruit that I could get a lot better at.”
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