BOSTON -- Andrew Benintendi will make his first career start in left field Friday night for Double-A Portland.

Can a big league call-up be far behind for the Boston Red Sox's top prospect?

"The player is going to determine when he's most ready," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "But as we've seen with a number of guys, we haven't been hesitant to move them around the field or to change positions. With Andrew going to left, we are looking down the road a little ways. When that day comes and he's a left fielder here in Boston remains to be seen. The way he's swung the bat, the way he's advanced this year, you start to prepare for it, for that eventual day."

Benintendi, 22, is a natural center fielder. The left-handed hitter is batting .277 (56-for-202) with a .342 on-base percentage, six homers and an .817 OPS in 54 games since being promoted to Double-A. He began the season at Single-A Salem, where he batted .341 (46-for-135) with a .413 on-base percentage, one home run and a .976 OPS.

Last month, after the Red Sox lost veteran left fielder Chris Young to a strained right hamstring that has turned out to be more severe than the team initially thought, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Benintendi was not yet ready from an offensive standpoint to be called up. But Dombrowski added that he isn't opposed to promoting players directly from Double-A when the time is right.

In 2013, shortstop Xander Bogaerts made his major league debut for a playoff-contending Red Sox team on Aug. 20 and wound up starting at third base in the postseason. And although Bogaerts had the experience of 225 at-bats in Triple-A, it's conceivable the Sox could apply a similar timeline for bringing Benintendi to Boston.

Injuries this season have forced the Red Sox to use six left fielders: Brock Holt, Young, Rusney Castillo, Blake Swihart, Bryce Brentz and Ryan LaMarre. Holt, a left-handed hitter, recently returned from a concussion, and the Sox have a 29-11 record when he's in the lineup, leading Farrell to say he's "more than happy with him in left field."

Holt has split time in left field, first with righty-swinging Young and lately with Brentz. But Holt’s greatest value might be his versatility. A jack-of-all-trades utility man, Holt has played seven positions at the big league level. The arrival of Benintendi could allow Farrell to shuttle Holt between different positions and afford more rest to everyday players during a brutal second-half schedule that includes only one day off in August and 41 of the team's final 63 games on the road.

"He has excelled at moving around," Farrell said of Holt. "We're fortunate to have a really good player that has proven to be successful, whether he's playing left field every day or we've moved him around. I don’t know if we're a better team if he's being more versatile. The fact that he's in the lineup is the biggest thing."

Regardless, Benintendi's move to left field is a signal that his big league arrival is coming -- and sooner rather than later.