Boston Red Sox Legend Praises Infielder for Dramatic Turnaround
2004 World Series Champion Kevin Millar praised third baseman Caleb Durbin amidst the Red Sox' historic winning streak.
Video Transcript
What's up, everyone?
Zach Coe here for Roundtable at Fenway Park, where the Red Sox and Orioles were rained out on Tuesday night thanks to storms sweeping the entire East Coast.
The Red Sox pursuit of tying the franchise record fourteen straight wins will have to wait until Wednesday afternoon as a part of a day-night doubleheader that gets underway at one thirty-five.
But I wanted to take a minute to talk about Monday night's hero in third baseman Caleb Durbin and some high praise that he got from a Red Sox legend and two thousand and four World Series champion, Kevin Millar.
Of course, Millar was the quintessential dirt dog, a player that became beloved in Boston, thanks in part to the role he played in that two thousand and four season and bringing the Red Sox their first World Series title in eighty-six years.
But Millar lauded Durbin for the dirt dog mentality that he plays the game with.
And during the struggles, of course, we know that Durbin was public enemy number one for the Red Sox and their fans through the first two months of the season where he was one of the worst hitters in baseball.
But Millar said it, through all the struggles, he never strayed.
He continued to play good defense, run the bases well, and play the game hard, and that's the type of stuff that's the makeup of Red Sox legends.
And it would take one to know one, and there's no better person to give that kind of praise to a guy than Kevin Millar, who, like I said, was a dirt dog in his own right when he played the game.
But Durbin has been one of the Red Sox best hitters since June first.
He leads all Red Sox hitters in batting average, and he trails only Wilson Contreras in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, home runs, and WRC plus, and he ranks top thirty in baseball since June first among all one hundred and sixty-five qualified hitters in that WRC plus.
And he's finally turning into the player that for the months leading up to the season, Red Sox fans were told he would be, the guy who plays hard, who plays the game the right way.
He drew a lot of Dustin Pedroia comps during the off-season, and we're finally starting to see that play out on the field.
And it's been a really incredible turnaround for Caleb Durbin as the team turns things around in their own right.
