FORT MYERS, Fla. — You don’t have to tell Brendan Rodgers how devastating an injury can be to a player. He lived that experience a season ago.

After four full seasons in Colorado as a pretty much everyday player, he signed a deal with the Houston Astros as a depth piece. He suffered an oblique strain early in June, and in his first game on a rehab assignment, was severely concussed in a horrific collision at second base, leaving him a broken nose and additional back, knee and hip injuries, ending his season.

This spring, he’s in camp on a minor league deal with the Red Sox, hoping to win a spot as a utility player. And irony of ironies, his bid to grab a spot on the Opening Day roster is enhanced because Romy Gonzalez (shoulder) is almost certainly not going to be ready for the start of the season.

When healthy, Gonzalez has shown he can move around the diamond and crush lefthanded pitching. Rodgers, 29, believes, given the chance, he can duplicate that skill set.

The offensive part is already established — Rodgers has a career OPS of .837 against lefthanded pitching. He won a Gold Glove at second for the Rockies in 2022, and believes he can transfer that ability to other infield spots, too.

That could be his ticket to an Opening Day job with the Red Sox.

“Good defender, obviously,” said Alex Cora. “We think offensively, there’s more there. But the way he moves (is impressive). (Monday), he took grounders at third, (Tuesday), he took grounders at second. He’s a Gold Glover, we’re happy that he’s here.”

This isn’t Rodgers’ first dalliance with the Red Sox. A year ago January, he worked out for the Sox in Orlando, but he got blocked when they added Alex Bregman early in spring training.

Now, a year later, Bregman is in Chicago as a Cub, Rodgers is in camp hoping to win for the Red Sox.

“Honestly, this was kind of the first serious minor league offer I got,” said Rodgers of the Red Sox’ interest this time around. “It felt like a good opportunity.”

Part of the attraction for Rodgers here is the presence of former teammate Trevor Story, with whom he played several seasons in Colorado.

“Having a chance to possibly get back with Story was a big attraction,” Rodgers said. “We played together a little bit in 2019 and 2020 and then I got pretty much a full year with him in 2021 and I felt like we bonded well up the middle (of the infield). I felt like he had that presence, had that demeanor where I fed off him and I learned from him. He’s a great dude, a great teammate and I look forward to being around him some more.”

“He’s a really talented player,” said Story. “There’s some versatility there. Taking ground balls with him at second, you see why (he won a Gold Glove). I think that’s obviously his main strength. But from the offensive side, he can impact the ball. There’s some damage in there. It’s just about health for him, but the upside was high.”

Rodgers got a few months to experience life as a bench player in the first half of last year.

“Understanding that platoon role or coming in late on defense,” recalled Rodgers, “you always have to be ready. It all happens pretty quick and you have to be ready for anything. I was able to learn things on the hitting side, about how I move, about myself and what I’m good at and what I’m maybe not so good at, getting into the bio-mechanics of my swing, which I hadn’t done a lot of.

“Now, we’re feeding off all the things I learned last year and Pete (Fatse, hitting coach) and all the hitting guys are really great with finding little things and finding things that are a little bit more comfortable for me in the box and I think we’re heading in the right direction.”

On a roster with a lot of lefty hitters, Rodgers offers one of the few righthanded bat options off the bench.

“The work that we’re doing right now is a lot of lefthanded heaters, lefthanded breaking balls into me,” said Rodgers. “We’re really trying to master that.”

From a defensive standpoint, Rodgers ordered a first baseman’s mitt two weeks ago and is up for the challenge of learning a new position. Being able to contribute at second, third and first would duplicate the coverage that Gonzalez might otherwise provide.

“Romy’s a great dude and I’ve played against him for quite some time and I wish nothing but health and success to him,” said Rodgers. “I’m just really trying to take advanrage of any opportunity I’m handed and whatever they see and whatever I earn, it’s a chance to help this team. That’s obviously the big goal for me.”