Kristian Campbell can play almost any position, but on Friday afternoon he began working somewhere new.

As Red Sox teammates and staff, including manager Alex Cora, looked on, the rookie went through first base drills.

Sitting in the Fenway dugout before the Braves series opener, Campbell said Friday was the first time anyone mentioned playing first base to him.

“I’m not sure exactly what the plans are, but something I definitely have to get used to,” Campbell said, explaining that his conversation with Cora centered around his “versatility.” His manager’s message was more “let’s give this a try,” than a set plan to move him to first base.

Though primarily a middle infielder, Campbell has also played the outfield throughout college at Georgia Tech, the minors, and these first months in the majors. Since making his big-league debut on Opening Day, Campbell has played six games in the outfield (five starts), but spent the bulk of his time playing second base (33 starts, 30 complete games). He’s looking forward to adding another position to his repertoire.

“I think this is my last position I needed to learn out of all of them, so I get to knock it off my bucket list for sure,” Campbell said earnestly, before being reminded that catcher remains uncharted territory.

This is the newest development in a chaotic scramble to replace first baseman Triston Casas, who suffered a season-ending ruptured patellar tendon on May 2. In the immediate aftermath of Casas’ injury, the Red Sox called up veteran Abraham Toro to share the workload with fellow utility-man Romy Gonzalez, but their tandem lasted barely a week before the latter landed on the 10-day injured list with a left-quad contusion on May 10.

The Red Sox then called up Nick Sogard for the first time this season. Sogard, who debuted last Aug. 2, entered Friday’s Braves series opener with five career big-league games (four starts) at first base, almost matching his minor-league experience at the position (six games, five starts).

In between, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow approached Rafael Devers about potentially playing first base. Their conversation led to a tense media session following the last game of the previous home stand. As teammates listened around the clubhouse, Devers called out the front office and spoke about feeling like he couldn’t trust the Red Sox to “keep their word,” because they had already forced him to move from third-base to designated hitter during spring training.

“Looking for options,” Cora said of Campbell. “Obviously, we’re getting Romy, probably at the end of the week, early next week, but just introducing (Campbell) to first base, and see how he looks. That’s where we’re at.”

As to whether this means the Red Sox are no longer considering having Devers learn a new position, “That doesn’t have to do with Raffy,” was all Cora would say.

MLB’s percentile rankings don’t paint the most flattering portrait of Campbell’s defense, but the small sample size indicates that he can be successful playing first base: according to Statcast’s Outs Above Average, he’s been stronger playing laterally toward first (plus-1 OAA) than toward third (minus-4).

“It definitely helps a lot, being on the same side as second base, so it’s not completely different,” Campbell said. “It is a little awkward. It looks a little bit different, but the more and more I’m over there working on it, the better it’ll get.”

Campbell doesn’t have his own first base glove yet, so he had to borrow one from first-base coach José Flores. The rookie is comfortable with Flores, who coached him in Triple-A last year.

“It helps a lot,” Campbell said. “He definitely knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the infield and everything, and just teaching me one step at a time, whether it’s second base, first base, shortstop or third base.”

It’s unclear how long the Red Sox will have Campbell work at first before actually taking off the training wheels.

“It can take 10 days, 15 days, a month, two months, but we started the process,” Cora said.

“Obviously it’s gonna take some time, but it’s something I wanted to do to help the team win,” Campbell said.

Asked which position is his favorite, Campbell said, “Whatever makes the team better, that’s the position I play.”

Houck undergoes MRI

Tanner Houck clearly wasn’t right. The Red Sox right-hander gave up 11 runs in 2.1 innings to the Detroit Tigers on Monday, and the following day the pitcher could tell he wasn’t recovering like he normally does after a start.

Houck was subsequently placed on the 15-day injured list with a right flexor pronator strain, but Cora said Friday that the pitcher doesn’t appear to be looking at a significant injury.

“I don’t know how long he’s going to be out, he had an MRI yesterday, no structural damage, so that’s good,” Cora said. “He’s getting treatment, just getting the inflammation out and get him feeling better. At the same time work on a few things, go to the lab and take a look at it and see what’s going on as far as the delivery and the action on his pitches and all that, and hopefully when he comes back from the IL he’s ready to go.”

After earning his first career All-Star nod last season, Houck has endured a terrible start to the new year. The 28-year-old struggled in spring training and has posted an 8.04 ERA through his first nine starts, allowing 39 earned runs through 43.2 innings. He leads the American League in hits, earned runs and hit batsmen allowed, with a big portion of the damage coming in two catastrophic starts.

Injury updates

Right-hander Walker Buehler (right shoulder bursitis) threw a bullpen on Thursday to infielders Gonzalez and David Hamilton along with an unspecified player from Boston College.

“It went well, let’s see how he recovers today and tomorrow and if everything goes well there’s a good chance he pitches Tuesday against the Mets,” Cora said.

Gonzalez (left quad contusion) is progressing well and is expected to return by early next week. Right-hander Richard Fitts (right pectoral strain) is away from the team attending to a family matter, but Cora said he threw a bullpen at home and could begin a rehab assignment late next week.

Burdi called up

Prior to Friday’s game, the Red Sox called up right-hander Nick Burdi to help fortify the bullpen. To clear space on the roster, the club optioned right-hander Cooper Criswell to Triple-A and placed right-hander Kutter Crawford on the 60-day IL.

The 32-year-old has appeared in five MLB seasons, most recently with the Yankees last season. Burdi boasts a 0.54 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 16.2 innings with Triple-A Worcester, and has consistently worked in the mid-to-high 90s with his fastball.

“He’s throwing strikes and he’s throwing hard,” Cora said. “I think having another arm in the bullpen that we can use early in the game for a right-handed pocket will be good.”