Alex Cora Not Ruling Out Role For Bobby Dalbec With Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox aren’t ready to give up on Bobby Dalbec just yet.

Dalbec spent the vast majority of last season toiling away with Triple-A Worcester and playing in just 21 games for the Red Sox.

It was unclear whether Dalbec would ever regain a big-league role with the Red Sox. That was until manager Alex Cora discussed Tuesday at the Major League Baseball winter meetings the potential for Dalbec to stick with Boston for the upcoming 2024 season.

Cora revealed that the Red Sox might just look to Dalbec to back up Triston Casas at first base, especially when the skipper opts to sit Casas against left-handed pitching.

“I think there’s a great opportunity for Bobby to be part of this,” Cora told reporters, per MassLive’s Chris Cotillo. “He can play first. He can play third. He played the outfield toward the end of the season. He’s been able to hit lefties. In the situation we’re in right now, it makes sense for him. If everything goes well and nothing changes, there’s a good chance that he’ll be that guy.”

Dalbec hasn’t been able to regain the form he showed in 2021 when he started at first base and batted .240 with 25 home runs and 78 RBIs for a Red Sox team that made the American League Championship Series. The following season, Dalbec hit a mere .215 with just 12 round-trippers. And last season, Dalbec received only 53 plate appearances with the Red Sox and posted a .204 batting average.

But Dalbec kept a glimmer of hope alive for the way he performed with Triple-A Worcester. He batted .269 and smacked 33 homers with 79 RBIs this past season.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, who told reporters other teams have shown interest in Dalbec, wants to tap into that production and potentially find a way to get that type of bat from Dalbec to the bigs.

“The versatility is incredibly valuable and he balances out the lineup a little bit and hits the ball really hard,” Breslow told reporters, per Cotillo. “I think he has had a track record of success in the minor leagues and, typically, really strong upper-level minor league performance is indicative of major league performance at some point. We have to figure out how to identify the right runway because those underlying characteristics are real.”

Breslow added: “I think teams are in tune with some of those underlying metrics that make him really valuable. But also, I don’t want to discount the possibility that the change of scenery is Fenway Park (from Worcester).”