FORT MYERS, Fla. — Coming into camp the Red Sox had hardly any depth at first base behind second-year starter Triston Casas, and Friday morning they reportedly brought in some badly needed reinforcements.

According to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo and others, the Red Sox have reached an agreement to sign first baseman C.J. Cron to a minor league deal. The former All-Star will give Boston another right-handed bat to compete with Bobby Dalbec for a spot on the Opening Day roster.

A first-round pick in the 2011 MLB Draft, Cron has played 10 seasons in the big leagues, including four with 25 or more home runs. The 34-year-old was an All-Star with the Colorado Rockies in 2022, when he hit 29 home runs with 102 RBI, but last season was limited by a back injury to 71 games, over which he hit 12 homers with a .729 OPS.

Cron immediately becomes a strong contender to make the Opening Day roster. Since spring training began the only other first basemen in big league camp who could play first base besides Casas were Dalbec and Pablo Reyes, a 5-foot-8 career utility player with eight career home runs over 461 MLB games.

Dalbec is coming off a strong season in Triple-A last year but hasn’t shown any consistency at the big league level, so he and Cron will presumably go head-to-head over the next month for a spot on the Red Sox bench.