This story was excerpted from Ian Browne’s Red Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ST. PETERSBURG -- Caleb Durbin dug himself such a hole in his first season with the Red Sox that Wednesday marked the first time he left the ballpark with his batting average above the Mendoza Line.
Though a .204 batting average is nothing to celebrate -- and Durbin isn’t about to -- his perseverance after a tough start and ability to regain his groove says something about his mental toughness.
The diminutive right-handed hitter, acquired on the eve of Spring Training to replace departed free agent Alex Bregman at third base (no pressure, right?), has gotten up off the mat like he used to during his days as a high school wrestler.
Consider this: In Durbin’s first 48 games of the season (which included 44 starts) through May 24, he had a slash line of .163/.241/.238 that included a gruesome groundball rate of 57.9 percent.
A few days before that, Durbin stopped playing regularly. From May 17 through May 28, he was out of the starting lineup six times in a span of 10 games. There were whispers he could be optioned to the Minor Leagues if he didn’t soon straighten things out.
Instead of letting his brutal start at the plate sink his confidence, Durbin spent the extra time working through all of his issues in the batting cage.
“I felt like I used it as a good reset,” said Durbin. “Physically and mechanically, I was grinding in the cage, so it allowed me to kind of work on some things with my swing, but also just a physical-mental kind of a reset.”
And here is what happened in his past 12 games after the reset, all starts. In 46 plate appearances, his slash line is .341/.348/.636 to go with five doubles, a triple, two homers (both on Wednesday) and nine RBIs. That groundball rate that was 57.9 percent in that initial 48-game stretch? It is down to 40 percent in those past 12 games.
Durbin has reached liftoff because he’s been able to lift the ball in the air again. His line-drive swing is playing to the pullside and to the opposite field.
“I think I'm just attacking the right side of the ball, or the correct side of the ball,” Durbin said. “I'm staying inside it. Even when you're pulling, you have to attack the inside part of the ball to kind of get good spin. You’re not going to hit it perfectly every time. But that’s when your misses on the wrong side of the ball are still hits to left, or top-spun, but they’re still hits. For me, it's just getting back to attack on the ball the right way, and the results have been better.”
And with results, confidence follows.
“Honestly, the last couple of days felt really good. I felt like I was really getting good swings on the ball, and I felt like I was going to get a good result,” Durbin said. “Not just feeling like I'm putting good swings on the ball, but trusting that the result will be good. I’m trending in the right direction. But obviously, there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
Perhaps because Durbin is undersized and has had to fight for everything that has come to him, he realizes better than most that, inherently, baseball is a game of failure.
“Obviously, I haven't been in the big leagues super long, but playing this game for most of my life, I've struggled at every level, so haven't gone a season without struggling,” Durbin said. “Just knowing that’s part of the process helps me continue to focus on the work I'm putting in.”
That said, his struggles this time came at the worst possible time, coming to a new team and playing in a pressurized market. But he’s coming out on the right side of it now.
“Really tough when it's to start the year, I'm not going to sugarcoat it,” said Durbin. “It hasn't been easy, but I owe it to my teammates who have helped me keep my head up and keep going.”
And one thing Durbin deserves credit for is that he never let his offensive woes interfere with his defense. He has emerged into one of the best defensive third basemen in the game.
Entering Wednesday, Durbin had +2 Outs Above Average, making him tied for seventh in the Majors at the hot corner. He also has a +2 Fielding Run Value.
“That's part of it at this level,” said Durbin. “One thing I learned last year with the Brewers, they really took a lot of pride in their defense, and I've kind of adapted that mindset. One thing my teammates that I've had in the past say is it doesn't matter where your offense is at, it's going to go up and down. Your defense has to be consistent. So that's something I've taken a lot of pride in.”