The Boston Red Sox have completed yet another trade, and the newest addition to the MLB roster promises to continue offering interchangeability within the infield group. Caleb Durbin was primarily a third baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers last season, but he has played more professional innings at second (albeit as a minor leaguer), and can slot in as a shortstop in an emergency.
Durbin will certainly factor into the Sox’s major league roster this year, but his time as a minor leaguer is particularly intriguing for the lore he just might bring to the plate as a newly minted man of the American League East.
The trade that brought Durbin to the Sox shuffled numerous names on both Boston and Milwaukee’s rosters. Gone is David Hamilton, a foot race menace on the base paths but a liability virtually everywhere else on the diamond. Also shipped off is yet another piece of the Rafael Devers trade in Kyle Harrison.
The trade that initially landed Durbin in Milwaukee was the ill-fated swap in which the Yankees landed Devin Williams ahead of the 2025 season. He was tabbed as the possible solution at the keystone for the Yankees last year, but Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com was already penciling him in as a utility infielder rather than an everyday position player in November 2024.
New Red Sox infielder Caleb Durbin came up as a Yankees prospect
He may take on a mobile role for the Red Sox in ’26, but one thing is certain, ex-Yankees prospects and others circling the organization often seek to play up to the occasion when taking to the field against the guys in pinstripes. Not only that, last season numerous former Yankees players enjoyed major performance improvements after leaving New York.
Durbin arrives in Boston at an exciting time. The team has fumbled some important recent relationships with players, but the organization’s fresh, electrifying talent is now fully ready for The Show. Durbin will join a talented young core with many names on the roster already signed to long term deals.
His defensive stability will help shore up an infield that has underwhelmed as of late, and if he’s up for the challenge, he’ll get to square off against his former team and now hated rival 13 times before even considering October baseball. Those meetings will give him an opportunity to deliver some pain to an organization that traded him away while its own infield mix was in flux.