{"id":577521,"date":"2026-02-17T13:48:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T13:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/577521\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T13:48:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T13:48:25","slug":"red-sox-depth-options-for-1b-limited-for-now-so-isiah-kiner-falefa-steps-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/577521\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox\u2019 depth options for 1B limited for now, so Isiah Kiner-Falefa steps up"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 Early in Red Sox<\/a> camp, some candidates for first base are limited by injuries.<\/p>\n

Triston Casas is still recovering from major knee surgery last May.<\/a> Romy Gonzalez, battling a left shoulder injury from last September and a January set-back, isn\u2019t yet cleared for baseball activities, having received a PRP shot.<\/a><\/p>\n

Into this breach has stepped newly-signed Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who is fully intent on putting the \u201cutility\u201d back in super-utility player as a backup option to Willson Contreras.<\/p>\n

Kiner-Falefa\u2019s principal positions are second, short and third. But having played literally every other position on the field in the majors \u2014 including catcher \u2014 Kiner-Falefa has one last positional box to check.<\/p>\n

And so it was that for the second straight day Monday, he got some work in at first.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving experience all over the field helps out a lot so going there is a little easier,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the hardest thing is the range factor, getting back to the base, footwork and then the cuts (cutoff plays on throws from the outfield) and bunt plays.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOther than that, playing the position, I felt fine. It\u2019s going to be more about the bunt plays, holding the runner on, the little things that make some guys better than other guys. If I\u2019m at any spot on the field, I want to make sure I\u2019m the right guy for the job. If I have to pinch run for Willson (Contreras) late in the game, they\u2019re not going to move (Caleb) Durbin or Marcelo (Mayer) off their spots because they\u2019re really, really good players. If that\u2019s how I fit in, I\u2019ve got to keep working there.\u201d<\/p>\n

It may be that Kiner-Falefa isn\u2019t needed at first at all. But he\u2019d rather be proactive now and get acclimated then to scramble and have to play catch-up when called upon.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of doing it the day before they think about putting me in that situation,\u201d he said, \u201cthis gives me time to work on things and gives them time to see me out there and see if they actually want to trust me instead of doing it on the fly. It\u2019s smart to try it early. I\u2019ll probably be in the outfield one of these days, who knows? Even if I put the (catcher\u2019s) gear on, I\u2019d rather do it now than the day before they\u2019re thinking about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my job as a utility player is, I have to be ready for anything and everything. It\u2019s just allowing me to not starting doing things in the middle of August.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kiner-Falefa last played first \u2014 for four innings \u2014 in the minors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the last (position) I haven\u2019t played in the big leagues,\u201d he said with a smile, \u201cso when they asked me, I was excited. Once I checked this one, I can do it all, officially.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MYERS, Fla. \u2014 Early in Red Sox camp, some candidates for first base are limited by injuries.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2290],"tags":[67031,152,5,5978,3194,13694,24563],"class_list":{"0":"post-577521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-2026-spring-training","9":"tag-american-league","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-defense","12":"tag-greenfly","13":"tag-workout","14":"tag-workouts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116086290383328690","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}