FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – David McCarty is trying to stick with the Red Sox by imitating Babe Ruth.

Both played outfield and first base and now McCarty is taking up pitching, a job Ruth excelled at with Boston before becoming baseball’s leading slugger with the New York Yankees.

“We both throw lefthanded and we’re both fat. That’s about it,” McCarty, who is much slimmer than Ruth, said Monday.

McCarty signed a minor-league contract in the offseason after the Red Sox claimed him on waivers from Oakland last Aug. 5. He went 11-for-27 for Boston but never pitched last season.

He did have four or five bullpen sessions last year after he asked pitching coach Dave Wallace if he could try pitching.

Boston’s only lefty this year is Alan Embree. McCarty said that if he were a righty he probably wouldn’t have tried pitching.

“I’m serious about it. It’s something I definitely want to pursue,” he said. “I think it can add a lot of value to me as a player.”

If the Red Sox need a pitcher in a one-sided loss, he could fill in while the other relievers rest, he said.

He’ll need every edge he can get in a tough competition for roster spots and if he can serve two roles it would help his chances.

McCarty threw about 30 pitches at Saturday’s opening workout of spring training and more than 40 Monday.

“He actually threw the ball pretty good,” manager Terry Francona said. “It’s real intriguing, a 6-foot-5 lefthander.”

Francona wants to see more of McCarty off the mound but not at the expense of his work in the batting cage and in the field.

McCarty, 33, pitched in high school but not at Stanford, which had an outstanding staff on which Mike Mussina was only the No. 2. starter. McCarty pitched two relief innings in 1999 when he was in the minors with Toledo and allowed one run.

“It kind of got me thinking I could have some success,” he said.

He hasn’t pitched in the majors but said he was an emergency pitcher in Kansas City, where he played from 1999 to 2001.

The success of Brooks Kieschnick in making the switch to pitching motivated him to try. Kieschnick played in 113 major-league games before last season, none as a pitcher, but pitched in 42 of the 69 games he played last season for Milwaukee.

They even pitched in the same series in 1999 when McCarty was with Toledo and Kieschnick played for Durham.

If the Red Sox “are going to look at it as a serious option” he expects to pitch in spring training games, McCarty said. Curt Schilling even showed McCarty on Monday how he throws his own split-finger fastball.

McCarty has played for Minnesota, San Francisco, Seattle, Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Oakland and Boston but has just 32 homers and a .240 batting average in 528 games.

So his hitting alone might not be enough to keep him with Boston.

But, he said, “if I can eat up some innings or get some lefties out, it’s such a big asset to have.”

Notes:Francona said the mild calf strain closer Keith Foulke suffered Sunday won’t be a setback. Foulke walked without a noticeable limp Monday. … All the position players are expected at Wednesday’s first full-squad workout.

AP-ES-02-23-04 1855EST