The Boston Red Sox's Opening Day lineup will largely be quite obvious with few, if any surprises — Jarren Duran or Roman Anthony will be the designated hitter with the other taking up left field, Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafeaela will man the other two outfield spots, Willson Contreras will play first base and Trevor Story will man shortstop with Carlos Narváez behind the dish.
Second and third base are the two positions most up in the air before March 26, and Caleb Durbin will play one of them. The other position will go to Marcelo Mayer, Andruw Monasterio or Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and when he's healthy, Romy Gonzalez should enter the mix.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora announced that he'll decide where Durbin will play by Friday, March 13. He also mentioned that Mayer is still not guaranteed to break camp with the big league team, a revelation which shocked some fans after a long offseason of infield free agent and trade whiffs, assuming he'd be in the mix.
Durbin has played third base for most of camp, which is where he played the majority of his rookie season with the Milwaukee Brewers, when he placed third in National League Rookie of the Year voting. Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne of MLB.com took the leap on March 9 and said he thinks Durbin should take up the hot corner in 2026.
Alex Cora will decide Caleb Durbin's position on the Red Sox's Opening Day roster by Friday, March 13
The majority of Durbin's minor league innings came at second base (1286.2) rather than third base (628), which could be an argument for using Durbin in the middle infield. Boston may also want to keep Mayer on the same side of the infield as shortstop, his natural position.
The Red Sox have said they'll have to see improved offense from Mayer before he makes the team out of camp and he'll still need to improve a bit. He's logged three hits in five Grapefruit League appearances, one of them was a home run, he's struck out three times and walked three times.
Durbin has flashed the leather a few times at third base in Grapefruit League play, but Mayer did the same last season while he filled in for an injured Alex Bregman. Mayer could excel defensively at any position and Kiner-Falefa can do the same, while Durbin's defense is ranks just above the league average and it might make the most sense to play him where he has the most experience, as Browne suggested.