The personality and potential of Payton Tolle
FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Red Sox might already be leading the Grapefruit League in something just a few days into the early days of spring training: Good intentions.
It's something.
"Can you believe it?" beamed Red Sox hitting coach Pete Fatse. "Everyone here? This early in camp? That's a first."
What Fatse was speaking about, of course, was the presence of all the Red Sox position players, despite the reporting date not being until the coming weekend. While it is pitchers and catchers who are the only ones officially going through their spring training paces, the hitters appeared to have invested equally in the workouts.
Filling out the occupied lockers Thursday were three of the more notable position players - Trevor Story, Jarren Duran and Willson Contreras.
There were hugs and how-do-you-dos. On this day, the quest for home runs could wait.
The caveat to the 100 percent attendance is that, in years past, the final arrivals were usually the superstars who had earned the right to wait until the last minute. This group simply doesn't have a lot of those, which, right now, isn't bad... just different.
The alpha locker on the left side of the clubhouse, which is reserved for position players, belongs to Trevor Story. That would be the first in the row, a spot taken up for years by David Ortiz, and most recently, the spot where Rafael Devers could be found. Next to him is Contreras, and then comes Duran.
As the row progresses, the names line up with Romy Gonzalez, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Wilyer Abreu. Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer are spending their second big league spring training on the opposite side of the position player group than they were last year.
The alpha spot for the pitchers - once occupied by the likes of David Price, Chris Sale, and, last year, Liam Hendriks - is taken up by Aroldis Chapman.
A year ago, Alex Bregman's locker could be found across the way from the regulars, planting himself in the midst of Mayer, Anthony, and Kristian Campbell. The only perceived roster-spot regulars over there this year are Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Masa Yoshida.
But while the Red Sox have certainly had spring training rooms much thicker with superstar vibes, the current dynamic isn't necessarily a negative. The lines of any potential class system are more blurred than ever, with veterans such as Contreras and Sonny Gray not flaunting services time or pay stubs.
- Speaking of Contreras, he told WEEI.com that he is still unsure if he will be participating in the World Baseball Classic due to insurance uncertainty. The thought is that the Venezuelan will get his answer after taking his physical Saturday.
- Garrett Whitlock will be leaving for his stint with the WBC on March 1, having already completed his physical. What's interesting is that they made the pitcher undergo his examination with another team's medical staff (in this case, the Twins) to make sure there was no conflict of interest.
- Gray was the latest player to meet with the media on the bench just down the way from the clubhouse. The veteran pitcher is known for his love of information and his potential for evolution, as the answers in his 20-minute session would suggest. He is very open when talking about how his existence and mindset have changed since first being rumored as a trade candidate for the Red Sox back 10 years ago, offering a great example of that growth.
"I remember facing the Red Sox, and then David Ortiz came out with a thing with the top five pitchers that he's faced," he said. "And I was 23 or 24, whatever. And I remember I made the list. I was like, number five or so. And I was just like, would you look at that? So I was like, Yeah, you just don't know what his ball’s gonna do. And at the time, I didn't know what my ball was gonna do. I would just throw a four-seam. And it was sometimes go that way. I throw a two-seam, yeah. So I didn't really know. So kind of goes into the previous questions, like, I understand what I'm doing a little bit more now, but yeah, it was just kind of like that. I remember that for sure. I don't remember the other rumors. I'm sure they were."
- Not everybody will make the team in this spring training clubhouse, but everyone has a story. An example of that is Anthony Seigler, one of the players who arrived in the recent deal with Milwaukee. Seigler was the 23rd overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, taken three spots in front of Triston Casas. The utilityman also throws with both hands, having hit 92 mph with his left arm and 96 with his right. Seigler made his big league debut with the Brewers last year, playing in 34 games.
- To nobody's surprise, the best quote of camp so far has already come from Payton Tolle, who didn't disappoint when appearing on the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast.
When asked about the pressure of trying to make the team, Tolle responded, "You're fighting like you're the third monkey trying to get on the ark, and it's starting to rain."
- Caleb Durbin hasn't met one of his baseball idols, Dustin Pedroia, but he did FaceTime the former Red Sox infielder briefly last season thanks to Milwaukee manager (and Pedroia's former college coach) Pat Murphy. Durbin missed the Milwaukee team meeting Pedroia spoke at last spring training. But, fortunately for the new Red Sox, there are still some avenues to make the meeting happen.
"I thought, you know, for all the talk about Pedey, I've been in this camp, that camp. I talked to this team, that team. And then I read that Caleb doesn't know him," Cora said. "I asked him. You never met this guy? I thought he was there the whole time. And he was like, 'No, no, they sent me down so I didn't meet him.' So I texted Pedey. I said, 'Hey, shoot him a text, give him a call, talk to him.'" Pedroia won't be attending Red Sox camp this year, according to Cora.
- 'Best Shape Of My Life' candidate Abreu said he is tipping the scales at 205 pounds, which is eight fewer than last year when he seemed noticeably skinnier due to a sickness. The avenue to the newfound fitness? No more sugar or soda.