Michael Chavis looks like the odd man out in the Red Sox infielder. Rafael Devers is locked in at third base, Michael Chavis is penciled in as the starting first baseman, and Boston has multiple options at second base. Brynn Anderson/Associated Press
He hit another home run last week and is sizzling this spring training. He was a third baseman with the Sea Dogs but is seeing more time at first base with the Red Sox.
And his name is not Bobby Dalbec.
Michael Chavis hit his third homer of the spring on Friday, upping his average to .333, with a 1.201 OPS.
But, with Dalbec ahead of him at first base – and Rafael Devers at third, and recently-signed Kiké Hernández at second – Chavis has few options.
“In regard to my position, I’m not sure if I have one,” Chavis said last week on a Zoom call with reporters.
Chavis, 25, does have options as far as the Red Sox are concerned. Chavis can be optioned to the minor leagues and remain on Boston’s 40-man roster. Others, including infielder Christian Arroyo, have no minor league options left.
Arroyo, a former first-round draft pick of the Indians, was claimed off waivers by Boston last August, one of Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom’s moves to improve his team’s depth.
Bloom has also added Yairo Munoz, Hernández and Marwin Gonzalez – all of whom can play multiple positions. Chavis played 12 games in left field last year, but that is still the proverbial work in progress.
So, Chavis falls further down the depth chart, at the same time Dalbec, 25, is rising.
Chavis, a first-round pick out of high school in 2014, and Dalbec (fourth round out of the University of Arizona in 2016) played together in Portland for three weeks in August 2018.
In 2019, Dalbec was still with the Sea Dogs while Chavis was making his major league debut on April 20.
Chavis exploded in his first 28 games, hitting 10 home runs, with a .283 average/.967 OPS. But pitchers adjusted and Chavis did not. For nearly the next three months, Chavis hit only eight more home runs, batting .240. His overall OPS dropped to .766. On Aug. 11, Chavis was shut down with a shoulder injury.
Dalbec, meanwhile, was breaking out in the minors with 20 home runs in Portland, and another seven homers in Triple-A.
Dalbec began last year at the alternative training site. He may be one of the few people who looks back at 2020 fondly. Promoted to Boston on Aug. 30, Dalbec hit eight home runs in 23 games, batting .263/.959. He expects to get better.
“I think it (the 23 games) gave me kind of a template of what I needed to work on,” Dalbec said earlier this month.
Dalbec entered spring training with the first base job his to lose. Chavis, who scuffled in 2020 (.212/.636), was in limbo.
“He needs to prove to us he has made adjustments throughout the offseason,” Red Sox Manager Alex Cora said.
Through Friday, Chavis looked locked in, but so does Dalbec – .278/1.325, four home runs.
The fact that Chavis must fight for a job is a good sign of Boson’s improved roster. He may not be in the majors on Opening Day but, unless he’s traded, Chavis will be back in Boston at some point, which a chance to stick.
A SHIFT IN RULES against shifting is coming to Hadlock Field and other Double-A ballparks. Major League Baseball, which took control of the minors this year, is implementing experiments with new rules for the game at different minor levels.
In Double-A, a new rule limits defensive shifting. None of the four infielders can be stationed in the outfield grass – the outer boundary being the infield dirt.
If this works out, MLB may increase the shifting limit in Double-A during the second half of the season, by mandating that two infielders be positioned on each side of second base.
“These restrictions on defensive positioning are intended to increase the batting average on balls in play,” according to MLB’s press release.
Just think if this rule was in place in the majors when David Ortiz was playing? How many of his sizzling grounders would have been singles, instead of the slow-footed Ortiz being thrown out from a second baseman in right field?
Defensive shifts have become commonplace in the majors, and more and more minor league teams were using them at the upper levels.
The new rule in Triple-A concerns an increase in the size of the bases from 15 inches square to 18 inches square “to reduce player injuries and collisions,” according to the MLB. It also makes the bases three inches closer for baserunners.
Various Class A leagues will have changes, including the “Automatic Ball-Strike System” (aka robot umps) used in “select game.” A tracking system will determine balls and strikes.
The tinkering continues.
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