The 2023 season is shaping up to be the most important of Boston Red Sox infielder Christian Arroyo's career.
The 27-year-old will enter the season as the Red Sox's top option at second base, after an injury to Trevor Story and Xander Bogaerts' departure in free agency forced Boston into shuffling its middle infield. The two men tasked with forming a new double-play combination? Arroyo and Kiké Hernández.
Hernández has been a lineup regular since joining the Red Sox in 2021, but Arroyo has played a far different role. The veteran has been used as a utility man in his three-plus seasons with Boston, splitting time between first base, second base, third base, shortstop and the outfield. Whether it be injuries, struggles under new circumstances or a lack of consistency, Arroyo has never been able to turn himself into a regular in the lineup.
Until now.
The Red Sox have placed full confidence in Arroyo throughout the start of spring training. And he's delivered. The seventh year veteran hit a pair of bombs in Thursday's exhibition win over the Philadelphia Phillies, prompting some questions as to whether or not he's been asked to fill in for some of the injured infielders for Team Puerto Rico in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
"I've been talking with (Red Sox manager Alex Cora)," Arroyo said on ESPN's broadcast, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. "Given the opportunity in front of me, it's a decision I have to make with our staff and see what the best move is."
Even though he acknowledged it was a possibility, Arroyo and Cora ultimately came to the decision that he would be staying in camp with his Major League Baseball club.
"Cora said postgame this was not going to happen," Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe tweeted following the game.
Though an opportunity on a stage the magnitude of the WBC certainly couldn't hurt Arroyo, time away from the Red Sox as he prepares to be their everyday second baseman is not ideal. Instead, he will now have an opportunity to get more reps in and prepare for what could be the heaviest workload of his career.
Arroyo has been more than serviceable over the course of 158 regular season games with the Red Sox, slashing .255/.307/.400 with 15 home runs and 69 RBIs. He has also played good defense, though it probably isn't a great idea to put him back in the outfield.
Time will tell whether or not Arroyo can lock up second base as his own, but at least he'll be given the chance to do so.
