Back when the Boston Red Sox signed Alex Bregman to play third base — which surely led to no franchise-defining repercussions, right? — the vision for the heart of Boston's order was clear.
As their Opening Day lineup proved, Jarren Duran, a 2024 All-Star, would lead off in front of a dangerous triumvirate of corner infielders, those being Rafael Devers, Bregman, and Triston Casas. There was more talent behind them, including sterling rookie Kristian Campbell, though the idea was that the Red Sox would reap the benefits of having one of the most dangerous top halves of any lineup in baseball.
Unfortunately, that concept blew up before it could ever really come to fruition, as Casas struggled for a month before blowing out his knee in early May, prematurely ending his season. Romy Gonzalez was pegged as the short-term replacement — though, hopefully, Devers would be willing to play first base, right? — but the team needed another middle-of-the-order threat.
Enter: Abraham Toro.
Abraham Toro gives the Sox the lead right back! pic.twitter.com/jFMrxmc8pg
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 12, 2025
Abraham Toro emerging as long-term first base candidate for Red Sox
With Devers now playing in San Francisco and Bregman still on the IL, the Red Sox have huge holes to fill in the two and three holes in their lineup.
In every game since the Devers trade, superstar prospect Roman Anthony has been tasked with holding down the fort as the third batter in the order. It's a job usually reserved for a team's best power hitter, which Anthony arguably is with Bregman on the shelf.
The No. 2 hole in the batting order has grown in importance over the last few seasons, with teams often placing their best all-around hitter in this spot to set up the power bats behind them. You might remember the New York Yankees using this strategy to great effect last year with Juan Soto and Aaron Judge.
Calling Abraham Toro the best all-around bat on the Red Sox may sound facetious, but it's hard to overstate how good he's been since taking over the first base job last month. In 31 games (114 plate appearances) this season, Toro is slashing .308/.342/.523 with a 137 wRC+ that dwarfs his career figure (86). He's barely walking (3.5% BB rate), though his strikeout rate is way down as well (16.7%). He's only hit five home runs, but don't be fooled — Toro's .215 ISO is a much better indicator of the power he's bringing to the Red Sox's lineup right now.
Now, it's fair to be worried about his underlying metrics, which, to put it kindly, are not good. A 6.7% barrel rate and 87.5 mph average exit velocity don't portend a productive future, and his free-swinging habits this season have led to a disastrous 38.1% chase rate.
That being said, Toro is still doing what he's always done best, which is to say he's mollywhopping fastballs. He's rarely whiffing against them (13.4%), and his .661 slugging percentage and .457 wOBA against the pitch should offer confidence that, even if he regresses a bit to the mean, he can still be an effective bat, especially once Bregman comes back and pitchers look to pitch him more aggressively before facing the star third baseman.
Who knows how long this breakout will last — the Red Sox are already hedging their bets in the minors — but Toro is suddenly an indispensable piece of the 2025 iteration of this team. Given everything else Boston has had to deal with this year, don't take what he's doing for granted.