FORT MYERS, Fla. — The injury was nothing serious, Josh Reddick noted. It was simply a matter of soreness that had left him unable to play for a couple of days, nothing that should impede the start of his 2011 season in Triple-A.

Even so, Reddick was plenty spooked when he felt even a hint of discomfort in his left side, around his ribs and oblique. After all, an oblique injury sidelined him for a lengthy stretch of the 2009 season, and so Reddick was on high alert as soon as he felt something in that region of his body.

“I shut it down right away,” said Reddick. “I just wanted to be safe with it and not go down that road again.”

The injury did indeed prove insignificant. Reddick was able to enter the game on Saturday as a pinch-runner for David Ortiz, and he went hitless in a pair of at-bats. The Sox wanted him to stay in big league camp while returning to health. That accomplished, the team optioned Reddick to Triple-A Pawtucket following Saturday’s game.

Thus concluded what has been an interesting big league camp for Reddick. The outfielder (who turned 24 last month) had been one of the most impressive spring performers for the Sox in 2009 and 2010, hitting .423 in ’09 and .390 a year ago. This year, after a strong start, he struggled in limited playing time, hitting .162 with a .538 OPS.

“I think we had 10 outfielders in camp,” noted Reddick. “The consistency of at-bats was there the last couple years, but they weren’t there this year, which is fine. I’m not complaining at all. I just looked at it another way. The last two years, I did really well. Last year especially. Then I went into the season and fell into a crater. So I’m hoping to revamp that this year. Do terrible in spring training and come out and rake during the season.”

Though his results might not have demonstrated it, Reddick said that he felt more comfortable in Sox camp this spring than ever before, in part because the signing of Carl Crawford during the winter removed any questions he had about his role.

“I think it helped relax me a little when we signed CC,” said Reddick. “It took my mind off of things, like coming in here and thinking of winning a starting position, which I wanted to do, but obviously, they don’t think I’m ready for that yet. They went and did that, had all these guys on the roster.”

Even so, it seemed fair to wonder whether Reddick allowed the signing of Crawford to raise questions about what his long-term future in the organization might be. But the versatile outfielder — who got off to a dreadful start in Triple-A last year, but then was a force after the All-Star break for the PawSox — said that he was never given pause by the addition of a left-fielder on a seven-year, $142 million deal.

“With C.C. signing, it wasn’t that big of a deal to me,” said Reddick. “They haven’t trained me to be a left-fielder in the big leagues. So it really wasn’t a concern. Then again, I’ve played it a couple times when I’ve been up there. I can definitely play all three (outfield positions). I guess I took it as a positive that they just want me for right field instead of center and left. Whatever it takes to get up there and stay there, I’m willing to do.”

–Catcher Tim Federowicz and outfielder Alex Hassan were excited about their spring training rooming situation. Though Federowicz and Hassan went to rival schools at UNC (Federowicz) and Duke (Mass. native Hassan), the two are good friends after having spent 2010 together at Hi-A Salem. They were planning on rooming with a pair of top Red Sox prospects. But, when Casey Kelly and Anthony Rizzo were traded to San Diego, Federowicz and Hassan were left scrambling.

Everything worked out fine in the end, with Federowicz and Hassan linking up with another pair of top Red Sox prospects: first baseman Lars Anderson and outfielder Ryan Kalish.

Though Anderson and Kalish were drafted in 2006, Federowicz in 2008 and Hassan in 2009, all four are close in age. Anderson and Federowicz are 23, while Kalish and Hassan both turn 23 this week. That being the case, Hassan quickly befriended Kalish and Anderson when he was in Pawtucket during a brief assignment in 2010.

The dynamic between the four players is interesting. Federowicz and Hassan — drafted out of college — are both hoping to play in Double-A Portland for the first time this year; Anderson and Kalish — high school selections — will open the year in Triple-A after finishing 2010 in the majors.

“Sometimes they say they think that I seem older because I went to college, sometimes I think they seem older because of they’ve been in the majors,” noted Hassan.

Hassan is an intriguing prospect. He’d pitched during most of his baseball life, and most teams (including the Sox) scouted him for the 2009 draft as a pitcher. But in the Cape League the summer after he was drafted, he impressed the Sox more as a position player, and so they made the decision to develop him as an outfielder.

The 2010 season marked his first full year as a position player. He started dreadfully, hitting .140 with a .507 OPS in 12 games in April. But from that point on, he enjoyed tremendous success in Hi-A Salem. From May through the end of the year, he hit .308/.409/.488/.897 with seven homers, and he showed steady improvement as the year progressed. In the second half, he hit .332/.431/.534/.965 with six homers.

–Right-hander Brandon Workman, whom the Sox selected in the second round of the 2010 draft and signed on Aug. 16, hours before the deadline, for an $800,000 bonus, changed agents. He had been represented by Kevin Hubbard during negotiations with the Red Sox, but switched recently to Jeff Berry of CAA.