The almost unlimited questions the Boston Red Sox have from this offseason and beyond are slowly being answered.
Regarding their lineup, many of the players have already seemingly found their slots. The likes of Roman Anthony, Trevor Story, and Jarren Duran would be the all but confirmed one-two-three in the batting order.
With Alex Cora, he said his lineup against the Toronto Blue Jays would be very similar to what would be seen on Opening Day against the Cincinnati Reds. Since Anthony is the confirmed leadoff hitter, Cora sees that Story would be the number two hitter after him. For those who don't know, Story batted second in the final two weeks of the season (10 games) and in all three of Boston's wild-card games against the New York Yankees.
In that small sample size, he hit one home run, drove in five, and had 11 hits in 45 at-bats. In the postseason, he batted .385 with one home run, three RBIs, and five hits in total over 13 at-bats. Sounds promising, right?
Boston's Batting Order Will be Worth Following During Spring Training
As for Jarren Duran, Cora knows he'll be better off in the three hole, mainly because of his ability to drive in runs. The problem with Duran in the leadoff spot was that he struggled mentally with getting the offense started. Cora said, via MassLive, he was "trying to force the action instead of letting the game come to him. Last year, hitting third, he was able to slow down. He was outstanding with men in scoring position."
He was right. Duran hit eight doubles, four home runs, 15 RBIs, while maintaining an .863 OPS in 25 games (112 plate appearances) in the third slot in the order.
In the middle of their lineup, Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu will be fighting for the cleanup spot. However, Contreras seems to have the edge by proxy because they need to even out the lefties with their fewer righties in the lineup. Cora even confirmed it himself, via MassLive, late in the offseason, shortly after his acquisition.
"I know Willson [Contreras] will probably hit fourth. I know that one..."
It should also be mentioned that Contreras "pulled the ball a little more than usual" in 2025; he knows it would benefit the Red Sox since they play at the shortest, yet most historic, left field wall in all of MLB.
However, no reports as of Tuesday have confirmed that Abreu will be hitting fifth. But it seems like that's the safest bet for him, given he was batting fifth for the Red Sox on Sunday in their 11-10 victory against the Blue Jays.
The bottom of the order (spots six to nine) will be determined soon, but the safest bets will easily be Ceddanne Rafaela and Carlos Narvaez. Depending on whether Marcelo Mayer or Isiah Kiner-Falefa wins the battle at second base, they will be batting at one of these spots.
New acquisition Caleb Durbin has had a decent spring so far, driving in two runs on one hit in three at-bats against Toronto. He will be back in the lineup in Ranger Suarez's Spring Training debut with Boston on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
While the rest of the lineup wasn't confirmed, the lineup would very well look like this:
1. Roman Anthony (LF)
2. Trevor Story (SS)
3. Jarren Duran (DH)
4. Willson Contreras (1B)
5. Wilyer Abreu (RF)
6. Caleb Durbin/Marcelo Mayer
7. Ceddanne Rafaela/Marcelo Mayer/Caleb Durbin
8. Carlos Narvaez/Ceddanne Rafaela/Caleb Durbin/Marcelo Mayer
9. Isiah-Kiner Falefa/Carlos Narvaez/Ceddanne Rafaela
Pay attention this Spring. Things are going to get spicy...