FORT MYERS, Fla. -- There is a bit of a misconception about Mike Napoli.

Admittedly, the 31-year-old is amidst a career transition to a full-time first baseman. That shift in role for the longtime catcher is the byproduct both of the Red Sox' need at first and the fact that the degenerative condition (avascular necrosis) in his hips suggests there is wisdom in subjecting the 31-year-old to a less physically punishing position.

Still, first base is anything but foreign to Napoli. Indeed, in some respects, his move to become the regular Sox first baseman represents, in some ways, a professional baseball career that is returning to its roots.

"It's kind of ironic. If you look at his baseball card from [his first professional] year," noted Brian Grieper, Napoli's agent, referencing Napoli's time in Butte, Montana, the Angels' Rookie Level Pioneer League affiliate in 2000, "it's him playing first base."

Napoli has a long history at the position. It's not as extensive as his time at catcher, but coming up through the minors he played roughly one out of every seven minor league games there, and in the big leagues he's played the position with even greater frequency.

As such, though he hardly has the reputation of a Gold Glover, he's not the proverbial fish out of water at first base. On Monday, as he continued to build his activity level in the field (per the protocols worked out to manage his hip condition), he took 100 ground balls at the position, and he showed a notable fluidity on the field to accompany the good hands that are a prerequisite to catching.

"There's some progression that we'll go through, but he looks pretty smooth, pretty fluid at first," noted manager John Farrell.

Still, the early paces of the spring have had a foreign element. It's not the position where Napoli has spent his time, but instead the one where he hasn't that has offered an element of novelty.

For the first time, Napoli is not going through the paces of spring training with his fellow catchers. He is not subject to the physical punishment -- and resulting camaraderie -- that springs from a position unlike any other.

"It's definitely a different feeling," acknowledged Napoli.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. There is obvious physical benefit to staying out of a constant crouch. Likewise, the demands on his time and mind that result from focusing his attention on pitchers rather than his own game are absent.

As such, there is potential benefit to Napoli and the Sox alike from his move to a less demanding position. For Napoli, even as he confronts a hip condition that could limit his playing time, being a first baseman opens up the possibility of becoming more of a lineup fixture than he's been at nearly any other point in his career.

His career high in games played (140) came in 2010 with the Angels, the only year in which he's spent more time at first (70 games) than behind the plate (66). Otherwise, he's never played more than 114 games in a season.

And the Sox need Napoli to be on the field and in the lineup as much as possible. After all, first base demands more offense than any other position. The major league average OPS at the position last year was .778; the average team got 24 homers from its first basemen. Napoli -- owner of a career .863 OPS, and someone who's averaged 33 homers per 162 games throughout his career -- gives the Sox easily their best chance of meeting and exceeding that standard.

As he commences his first spring as a full-time first baseman, Napoli can see how the position shift will help him stay on the field.

"My mind is a little freer with the whole catching part, getting to learn these new pitchers, knowing what they want to do, the physical part of being behind the plate, blocking balls, all those things. It's definitely been different. It's definitely easier on my body," said Napoli. "I mess with [catcher David Ross] all the time. They walk by and I'm smiling at them, and they know exactly why I'm smiling at them. I know that grind. I know what they're going through."

Yet there is a part of Napoli that laments the absence of those demands. Catchers simply have a different mentality than other positions. There is something rewarding about the selflessness of the responsibility, of the opportunity to work in partnership with a pitcher and to make that the focus of a game.

Even so, he understands that given his hip condition, he has commenced a new chapter of his career. And so, while the absence is palpable, he also comprehends that it is inevitable and helpful.

"Now that I'm not doing it, I feel good but I do miss it. It's something that I've done my whole career," said Napoli. "I miss it and in some ways, I don't. But for now and what we went through and where I'm at now, I'm OK with it.

"I almost look back with a feeling of so much more respect for it," he continued. "The people that haven't been through it don't really understand it. They think that it's just a position. You've played it your whole life, it's just what you do. But the grind -- in the first month of the season, you're already worn out Opening Day. You're beat. This will definitely help me in the long run."