FORT MYERS, Fla. — Caleb Durbin recognized early in life that he probably didn’t have a path to the NBA or NFL. At a listed height of 5 feet 7 inches — recently revised to 5-6¼ — the chance of a professional future in many sports was remote.
The NBA has had one player with a listed height of 5-7 this season — rarely used Bulls guard Yuki Kawamura, who is currently in the G League. The NFL had five players with listed heights of 5-7 in 2025, and none shorter. The NHL doesn’t have a single player this season with a listed height under 5-8.
Baseball is different. There were 10 big leaguers last year — eight position players and two pitchers — with listed heights of 5-7 or shorter, including regulars Durbin and longtime Astros star Jose Altuve, who is listed at 5-6.
“Baseball is a great equalizer,” said Durbin, who acknowledged that there were moments as an amateur — he played college ball at Division 3 Washington University in St. Louis — when he did feel overlooked because of his stature. “You could be any size … If you think you’re good enough and you believe in what you can do, it will all work out in the end. And I believed I had a skill set that could help a big league team eventually.”
More than any other sport, baseball not only permits but in some ways rewards those who are vertically challenged. While towering Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani rank among the foremost players in the sport, Altuve, Mookie Betts (generously listed at 5-10), and José Ramírez (5-8) are stars whose exceptional hand-eye coordination and shorter swing paths help them limit swings and misses.
“The shorter the levers, the less [bat] speed that you’re going to be able to pick up. You see your bigger, stronger, longer-levered guys, they’re naturally going to be able to create more speed and length. But it can work positively and kind of negatively in the same sense,” said Red Sox hitting coach Pete Fatse. “With the longer levers, there’s just more space you have to account for. [For shorter arms], the hands are closer to the body so, from a spatial awareness perspective, bat control might be slightly an advantage.”
With longer swing paths that result in higher bat speeds at the point of contact, bigger players have a better chance of sending a ball into orbit. But smaller players historically have been more adept at putting the ball in play.
“It’s fairly intuitive to think that longer levers, just based on the physics, come with the ability to generate greater bat speed and potentially more damage, but potentially at the tradeoff of contact ability,” said Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.
Meanwhile, shorter players have smaller strike zones — which can mean fewer cold zones to cover, and smaller targets for opposing pitchers.
“Just in terms of my height, it would be a disadvantage [compared to smaller players] because I would have more room to cover vertically,” said Triston Casas, who at 6-4 is the tallest position player on the Sox’ 40-man roster. “So what ability I gain from being able to possibly pull an outside pitch, I would lose having to cover a little higher part of the zone.
“I think about guys like Altuve, and his zone is a lot smaller than mine, and the pitchers’ ability to avoid a mistake to him is probably tougher. The margin for error is definitely lower throwing to a guy like that.”
Of course, there are plenty of tall players who have identified an approach that permits them to thrive. Along with Ohtani and Judge, Cal Raleigh, at 6-2, stayed behind the plate and blasted 60 homers last year. At 6-3, Roman Anthony showed the ability to cover the strike zone as a 21-year-old rookie in a fashion that suggested an emerging superstar.
“That’s the beauty of this sport. It doesn’t matter. They’re great athletes. They come in different sizes, and they’re elite at what they do,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “That’s the beauty of this game. It gives everybody a chance to be a big leaguer. You just have to work hard, and if you are really good at your craft, you’re going to get a shot.”
“You might not be tall enough to play in the NBA or fast enough to play in the NFL. There’s still a sport for everybody; that’s exciting,” added Breslow, who pitched in 586 big-league games (including postseason) despite standing inches shorter than his listed height of 6 feet. “That’s something that has drawn people to baseball forever. You can stand Garrett Crochet next to Ranger Suárez and say both of those guys are very good lefthanded starting pitchers. And you can take [6-6, 277-pound] Justin Gonzales and put him next to Caleb Durbin and say these are two very good position players.”
Though shorter than Dustin Pedroia — a player after whom he modeled his game growing up — Durbin can look at his chosen sport as one of possibility. After hitting .256/.334/.387 with 11 homers and 18 steals for the Brewers last year, Durbin sees a path to being a more impactful hitter in a sport where skill is not constrained by size.
“There’s different ways to build a good hitter,” he said. “It’s not easy for anyone to get here. It doesn’t matter what size you are. It’s tough to get to this level. But at the end of the day, the work you put in is going to show.”
Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.