Kyle Schwarber Ready To Play Outfield For Red Sox; First Base Could Follow
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Red Sox' major deadline acquisition is ready to play the field.
Kyle Schwarber, who missed more than a month with a hamstring strain, has only served as a designated hitter in his first four games with the Red Sox. That should change this weekend.
Schwarber should be in left field when the Red Sox open their weekend series against the Texas Rangers, according to The Boston Globe's Peter Abraham.
The Red Sox still hope to give Schwarber some playing time at first base, where he has zero big league experience. But the team plans to ease him into playing the field.
"The goal is for him to play in the outfield over the weekend. So he's feeling a lot better. You saw him running [Tuesday]. He moved well," manager Alex Cora said. "He worked earlier [Wednesday] at first. Now he'll go back out there for batting practice. We'll keep working with that, but first thing's first, he'll play the outfield of course before he plays first base."
Schwarber expressed confidence in stepping in to the first base position.
"I feel like I could do it," he told Abraham. "I feel pretty comfortable there, so hopefully it's soon."
Schwarber has gone 4-for-11 with two doubles, three walks, and three strikeouts in his four games of action with the Red Sox. On the season, he's hitting .257 with a .916 OPS, with 25 home runs and 11 doubles. He's been almost exclusively a left fielder throughout his major league career.
