Caleb Durbin has gone from Red Sox disappointment to Alex Bregman's long-term replacement

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The Boston Red Sox are arguably the best team in the MLB right now, as they look to expand upon their 14-game winning streak, and tie their franchise record tonight against the Baltimore Orioles.

During the first half of this season however, no one could have seen this coming. Boston only had a couple contributors offensively, while the rest of the team did nothing. One of those players was Caleb Durbin, as he was seen as a massive disappointment replacing Alex Bregman.

However, in the past 44 games, Durbin has been a major reason for Boston’s success, and he’s been one of their best players.

Durbin’s first half was awful

Through Durbin’s first 48 games with the Red Sox, Durbin was the worst hitter on the team. He was slashing .163/.241/.238/.479 with a wRC+ of 32, and only had one home run off a position player.

Durbin was supposed to be Boston’s answer to losing Bregman, and was looking like a major mistake. Then, Durbin went to an external hitting camp on his days off, and something changed for the better.

Durbin’s second half has been amazing

In the 44 games since he started working with Gradium Gswing, Durbin has been an absolute monster for Boston. He’s been slashing .304/.353/.551/.904 with a wRC+ of 144 and nine home runs.

He’s brought his seasonal averages to .236/.299/.400/.699, which still doesn’t look like much. Although, keep in mind he’s raised his numbers by a crazy amount in just 44 games. If he continues this run of greatness, he could be hitting .250 with an OPS of .750 by the end of the season. Compare that with where he started, and it boggles the mind.

Boston has found their long-term third baseman

The perks of Durbin are now starting to show themselves, especially when compared with Alex Bregman. Bregman signed a five-year, $175 million deal to average the same numbers as Durbin has this year, without the hot streak.

Boston has Durbin for the same amount of time, except all of it is team control. Durbin won’t hit free agency until 2031, and Boston could just extend him before that.

In the end, Boston found their third baseman of the future. And if he keeps this up, he could be one of the greats.

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