lowrie

PAWTUCKET — Gone are the days when a Pawtucket Red Sox player fielded one position. Versatility is the cherished skill now. Or, Jed Lowrie may think of himself as a shortstop, but manager Ron Johnson sees him as an infielder.

“Our whole focus here is the more we move them around, the more versatility we give Tito (Boston manager Terry Francona) when they go to the big leagues. And that’s what this is all about,” Johnson said.

Last night against Columbus, for example, Lowrie started at shortstop and Joe Thurston at second, but each has played the other position, plus third base. Keith Ginter, who started at third, and Gil Velazquez, who is 0 for his last 18 and was not in the starting lineup, have moved around the infield this season.

When stationed in Pawtucket this season, outfielder Brandon Moss has played first base.

“It gives you the opportunity to take the guy who’s swinging the bat the best, and you don’t have to get locked in . . . If something happens with the third baseman, second baseman, shortstop, we’ve got infielders. Thurston, Velazquez, Lowrie — they’ve played all three. So you can look down and say if we take this guy, he can play all three and he hits from the left side of the plate (Thurston). We can take this guy and he plays all three and hits from the right side (Velazquez). We don’t have to worry about taking that one player,” Johnson said.

In Lowrie’s case, he can play all three positions and hit from either side.

The PawSox employed this approach last year with outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury, David Murphy and Moss.

“And it played out big in the World Series because late in the games in the World Series, Jacoby Ellsbury is playing left, Coco (Crisp) is playing center and J.D. (Drew) is playing right. Ellsbury got that opportunity down here to get that experience. When he did go to the big leagues, it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I’m playing left field now,’ ” Johnson said.

Boston’s minor-league officials start selling players on versatility in spring training.

“Let’s face it,” Johnson said. “The bottom line is: guys want to get a chance to go to the big leagues. You tell people the quickest way to go to the big leagues is to do this — they’re going to do this.”

Lowrie is a perfect example. An All-America shortstop at Stanford, he got the call to go up to Boston in April when third baseman Mike Lowell injured his thumb. Lowrie played third, short and second during his month with Boston.

“For a young guy like myself, you’ve got to get in where you fit in. I’m an everyday shortstop, but if it takes me playing third base, shortstop, second for me to get there, that’s what it takes,” he said.

“For me, it’s not that they don’t think I can play shortstop. They want me to stay sharp so if something happens up there, I’ve played those positions, and I’m comfortable there. The last thing they want is to have me play shortstop every day, and if someone gets hurt, I have to go play second base or third base and not have played those positions for a year. It’s something that right now in my career they have asked me to do, and they think that it only increases my chances to move up.”

And as Johnson said, that’s what this is all about.

mszostak@projo.com