During the first two months of the season, it was no secret that Caleb Durbin’s performance at the plate was one of, if not the biggest reason, for the Red Sox’ struggles. The transition from Rafael Devers to Alex Bregman to Caleb Durbin was understandably not well-received by the Sox fanbase; the epitome of Craig Breslow’s failure in his plan to fix the team’s lack of power from 2025. One month ago, Durbin’s .479 OPS was the lowest in all of baseball.
Durbin had two off-days on May 26-27th, around
the time that he began working with Carlos Narvaez’s private hitting coach. He returned to the lineup the next day, going 2-for-4. Since that date, Durbin has eight doubles, five home runs, 16 RBI, 13 runs, and three steals. He is slashing .329/.352/.624 with a 159 wRC+ and a .294 ISO (17th in MLB). That’s right, Caleb Durbin, who appeared incapable of hitting the ball out of the infield for one-third of the season, is 17th out of 168 qualified hitters in “isolated power” over the past month, all while playing stellar defense.
Durbin’s go-ahead home run off of Cam Schlittler, one of three times he reached base last night, earned him the top spot in Three Studs on Thursday night. Despite his performance over the past month, his 78 wRC+ means that his season-long performance is still 22% below league average. There’s still a long way to go.
Where are you at on Caleb Durbin at the halfway point in the season? After finishing third in the NL Rookie of the Year voting a year ago, can his June performance keep up for the rest of the season and be a core member of the team for years to come? Or are his season-long numbers, to date, closer to what you expect?
Discuss in the comments, be good to each other, and enjoy the Yankees and Red Sox this weekend.
