Red Sox Expand Role Of Young Bat, Hope For Big League Return

BOSTON — Enmanuel Valdez doesn’t currently fit any of the bench roles that are up for grabs in Boston, but the Red Sox doing their best to change that.

It’ll ultimately be up to the 25-year-old to figure things out, however.

The Red Sox optioned Valdez to Triple-A Worcester on Thursday, making room on the roster for versatile infielder Zack Short. Boston expects Vaughn Grissom to join the lineup as an everyday second baseman Friday, so it makes more sense for Short to serve as a bench piece for the team given his defensive versatility.

Valdez will be given the chance to earn his spot back, though, as he’ll take on added responsibility with the WooSox.

“It’s against what I wanted last year, last year I wanted him to focus on second base. We talked about it and we’re going back to versatility,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora shared Thursday. “He’s going back to first (base), he’s going back to third. We’re going to re-introduce him to the outfield. The more versatile he is, the faster he’ll get back to us.”

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Cora was pleased with Valdez throughout his most recent stint with the big club, both offensively and defensively.

“It was night and day defensively,” Cora said. “He did an amazing job. He did everything that we asked him to do in the offseason. It started with a throwing program with (Red Sox development coach Carlos Vallejo) down there, and he just did an outstanding job defensively.

“… He hit the ball hard and in the air. He’s a good at-bat. You take the numbers away and you see the at-bat, you probably thought he was hitting .280 with an .850 OPS. That wasn’t the case, but he did well.”

You can’t really count on health with this version of the Red Sox, but an infield of Triston Casas, Grissom, Ceddanne Rafaela and Rafael Devers sounds pretty solid for a stretch run. Valdez could be a primary bench piece if he’s able to prove his versatility down Route 9.