Red Sox Hiring More Minor League Coaches To Emphasize This Area

The Boston Red Sox have identified a clear focus for player development following the 2025 season.

Boston plans to double the number of full-time minor league coaches focused on defense, according to The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey. Director of player development Brian Abraham said the organization will consider tweaks to how they instruct players.

“We obviously don’t want to make wholesale changes based on one season, but over the past couple years, this is something we’ve focused on,” Abraham said. “I don’t think the results have been where we want them to be, but there have been some intentional changes on our end with our training and staffing to improve in that area.

I think we’ve moved in the right direction to help our players be better fundamentally, and in the game, be better decision-makers in the field … with situational plays, and game play focus, improving individual skill sets and with this staffing and training, we’re hopeful it’ll show.”

The Red Sox will employ four full-time defensive coaches at each minor league affiliate next season. They had just two total full-time instructors last year, the first time they placed a defensive instructor at each level.

Boston also promoted Pablo Cabrera to a new “defensive coordinator” position that will work with all teams. The Red Sox are searching for a new field coordinator to replace Andrew Wright, who followed new team president Paul Toboni to the Washington Nationals.

The Red Sox committed an MLB-high 116 errors this season despite ranking 12th in Defensive Runs Saved.

While Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony played promising defense during their rookie campaigns, Kristian Campbell turned into a fielding liability with -16 DRS at second base. Defensive concerns likely blocked his path back to the majors after a midseason demotion to Triple-A Worcester.

“Especially for young players, they get to the big leagues and a small play is a huge play and a routine play is a game-changing play,” Abraham said. “It matters in the win-loss column more than the minor leagues, so it’s balancing those things and making sure the little things do matter.”