Well, the Boston Red Sox did get a defensive-minded middle infielder, as promised, signing Isiah Kiner-Falefa for one year and $6 million. Visions of Pete Alonso playing alongside of Alex Bregman have gone by the wayside as the front office has committed to bolstering the infield defense. Kiner-Falefa fills that exact role and almost nothing more.
He will be competing with lefty-killer Romy Gonzalez, Nate Eaton, Nick Sogard, and even David Hamilton for the starting second base job this spring. Given the timing and the $6 million price tag just five days before pitchers and catchers report, there is little doubt he will be on the Opening Day roster. The bigger question is how often he cracks the starting lineup, especially with Gonzalez offering the superior bat and Mayer appearing to be the preferred option at third base.
Kiner-Falefa is the standard utility infielder manning 2B, SS, and 3B in 2025, playing all of them at an average to an above-average level. Second was where he got the fewest reps, with only 34 attempts on a play, and according to Baseball Savant, he was expected to convert 85% of those chances and did so.
For his career, he is a +16 Outs Above Average player, though that’s come with some serious regression, with most of it coming from an 11 OAA season in 2019; he posted -1 OAA in 2025. Even still, he is a reliable option, posting solid Defensive Runs Saved numbers with three at 3B, one at SS and one at 2B. This simply shows he might not have the same first step he did as a rookie, limiting his previously outstanding range, but he is reliable at making the plays he should with a consistent arm.
A lot of the positive things I have to say regarding Kiner-Falefa end at his fielding. His bat is nothing to boast about, never slugging over .376 in a season.
.png.1e12c97d772dd3a1ecf386648e88b6e7.png)
As indicated by the graphic above, he is quite clearly not a power option in any capacity. He’s hit eight home runs twice in his career, and that is a career-high, and the underlying metrics show no indication that this season will be any different. A 1.1% barrel rate, a Max EV of 106.1, paired with an 8.1% Pull Air% do not bode well for a sudden power boost. That was never his game, regardless, but if you can’t hit the ball hard there needs to be another elite trait to supplement that.
Outside of his ability to avoid swinging and missing, that impact skill simply is not there. Kiner-Falefa is coming off a season where he slashed .262/.297/.334 while tallying a 75 wRC+. As much as I want to find the underlying breakout metric in his swing, it is not to be found. In fact, he outperformed all of his expected metrics by a good chunk.
The role I envision for him is a late-inning defensive fill-in or a surefire way to get the regular infielders some needed rest, thanks to his defensive flexibility on the infield dirt. He provides the ultimate versatility that teams can never have enough of and something I’m sure Alex Cora will appreciate. In the scenario where Kiner-Falefa gets regular at-bats though, something has either gone horribly wrong or he’s having an Abraham Toro-style June heater.
In a vacuum, the signing is a smart one thanks to his legitimate utility role, but with a glaring need for some pop in the lineup, it has left many fans, including myself, wanting for more.