FORT MYERS, Fla. – Not since Dustin Pedroia have the Red Sox had a player who has been asked about his size – or lack thereof – throughout his baseball life as much as the team’s most recent acquisition.
Infielder Caleb Durbin, fresh off being acquired from the Brewers two days ago, joined his new team on Wednesday and didn’t tower over anyone with his 5-foot-7 frame.
Much like Pedroia back in the day, Durbin looks forward to the day when most of the questions are about his skills and not his size. The 25-year-old took a big step toward that goal last season in Milwaukee, finishing third in the NL Rookie of the Year voting for a team that ultimately lost to the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series.
“I mean, I hear questions about it every time I do a press conference,” said Durbin. “It’s always going to be there. It’s not really something I worry too much about when I'm playing, but I’ve been the smallest guy on the field at every level, so it's nothing new to me.”
How has Durbin already quieted some of the “small talk”?
“Just play to the best of my abilities,” Durbin said. “That's all you can really control. Play hard and if you're confident in what you can do, then you'll be all right. I think that's the biggest thing. Just believe in yourself.”
The plan going in is that Durbin’s role on the 2026 Red Sox will be sizable. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow answered in the affirmative when asked earlier this week if he believes Durbin is an everyday player.
There are still questions to answer. Will Durbin hit near the top of the lineup or somewhere like sixth or seventh? Will he play third base (where the Brewers used him almost exclusively last season) or shift to second, a position he is very familiar with from the Minor Leagues?
If the right-handed hitter moves to second, the Pedroia parallels will only become more common. But that doesn’t bother Durbin. There’s no player Durbin would rather be compared to, though he admitted it could be a stretch to suggest he can reach that level of greatness.
“He was definitely one of my favorite players growing up. And a guy that I definitely try to model my game around,” Durbin said. “Obviously a long way to go, but he was a dude I really enjoyed watching.”
Interestingly, Durbin played for manager Pat Murphy in Milwaukee, who was Pedroia’s college coach at Arizona State.
“I would ask [Murphy] a lot of questions more than anything, and he would tell me stories all the time of when he coached him back at ASU. And he's texting Pedroia, telling him that I'm coming over [to the Red Sox] and stuff,” said Durbin.
A meet-and-greet is inevitable between the two at some point soon, perhaps as early as this spring.
In the meantime, Red Sox manager Alex Cora is looking forward to seeing what he has from the diminutive infielder.
“I don't see Caleb becoming a dude where he's gonna hit 40 home runs, but he's a guy that’s gonna drive in runs, he's gonna get on base, he's gonna be part of the solution,” Cora said. “And he can hit [near the] top of the lineup, but he can give you length in the lineup also. He's a good player. He's a good baserunner. And just talking to him today, it's refreshing to hear him. You know what he wants to accomplish. The conversation went defense, baserunning. I was like, 'Oh, [cool].'”
In his first taste of life in the Majors last season, Durbin, a 14th-round pick in the 2021 Draft, had a batting line of .256/.334/.387 with 25 doubles, 11 homers, 53 RBIs and 18 stolen bases.
Those are short of the “Laser Show” numbers Red Sox fans became accustomed to for a decade.
But Durbin looks at ‘25 as just a step in his progression.
“Now it’s just continuing to push the envelope of batted balls, exit velo, all that stuff, bat speed, that’s stuff for me that’s low-hanging fruit that I could get a lot better at,” Durbin said. “And for me, all I really care about is getting better every year. It’s not about where you start in your career, as long as you're trying to continue to develop and get better. And I think that's all I really worry about.”