The Boston Red Sox, despite some early calls from fans, have made it clear that top prospects Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer aren't viable options to replace Triston Casas at first base after a season-ending injury. Of course, neither has played the position before, so that does make sense — even if Boston needs the juice of one or both players in the lineup. However, one outside-the-box Casas replacement could still lead to getting at least Mayer up to the big leagues: Trevor Story.
Story, of course, has never been anything but a middle infielder in his career, and that's with just one season at second base. He's a shortstop by trade and one that the Red Sox have desperately hoped could be healthy. So far in 2025, he's delivered that. At the same time, though, his defense, which was once his calling card, has taken a step back to start the season. His arm strength, which has been an issue for some time, is still sub-50th percentile according to Baseball Savant, but more concerning is that his range has fallen off dramatically to just the 31st percentile.
With Casas' injury, though, it's worth considering keeping Story's elite glove with the lessened range on the field, but moving him across the diamond to first base. It would negate his depleting range, mitigate the issue with his mediocre arm and fill the hole left by Casas, which is one big problem wrapped into one. He's also got the size at 6-foot-2 to not be an outlier of a small first baseman either. More importantly, though, it would finally clear the path for Mayer to get to the big leagues, which has been a pressing issue discussed of late.
And make no mistake, the Red Sox top prospect and No. 10 prospect in baseball is ready for that call up.
Trevor Story moving to first base would give Red Sox space to call up Marcelo Mayer
Anthony has rightly been stealing headlines this season for his dominance in Triple-A, but Mayer has been crushing in his own right. Through 28 games iin Triple-A, he's slashing .268/.323/.491/.814 with seven home runs, four doubles and 34 RBI while having a workable 21.48% strikeout rate. Even more promising, he's been getting better and better, posting a .938 OPS over his last 10 games in Worcester.
If you needed more evidence that it's time for Mayer to be in the show, there's two more obvious pieces. For starters, the Red Sox called Kristian Campbell up to the Opening Day roster with just about as much Triple-A experience as Mayer. All he did was win AL Rookie of the Month in April. Just as relevant, Mayer might've been the best Red Sox hitter in spring training, posting a ridiculous .983 OPS across 20 games.
Putting Mayer at shortstop and moving Story to first would improve the Red Sox lineup dramatically. Boston is currently looking at Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro as their options at first. The former is best served as a utility player while the latter, to put it bluntly, shouldn't be considered an option at the major-league level in 2025. Yes, there's risk with Story switching positions, but his glove is elite enough to see the transition happening with his range not being what it once was.
Of course, Red Sox fans still want to see both Mayer and Anthony get the call up, and this wouldn't help the latter. That will likely come down to when Boston finally finds the gumption to boot Ceddanne Rafaela from being an everyday player with a .602 OPS producing consistently uncompetitive and harmful at-bats. That should happen soon, but finding the best solution at first base is the more immediate problem the club needs to solve.
The flexibility that Story switching positions would provide not only could be the answer at first base, it also calls up Mayer. And if you want a potential other benefit, less defensive focus at the hardest infield position might also free Story up more at the plate and lead to more consistently. At this point, though, there's no harm in experimenting. The Red Sox need real solutions, and Story moving to first has enough abject positive effects that it has to be worth trying.