What's going on with Rafael Devers?
- Om Brown
- May 24
- 7 min read
Updated: Jun 3
The Boston Red Sox have struggled mightily this season. As of May 23rd, they sit at 26-26, underachieving significantly compared to expectations set after major offseason moves. However, mediocrity is not their biggest storyline in May. Boston’s star 28-year-old, Rafael Devers, has courted controversy all season due to comments from Spring Training up to now. The fanbase is angry at him, and to an extent, they are right. However, the outrage and alienation of your franchise player off of overblown comments are flat out ridiculous. This is an emergency recall of Red Sox Recaps, and I will break down the ugly mess that this has become, give my honest thoughts, as well as set the record straight, something that many fans fail to do.
Overview:
In 2023, Boston extended Devers, their best pure hitter and starting 3B for $313.5 million over 10 seasons. He was promised by Chaim Bloom (the GM at the time), ownership, and management that he was their guy at the position. Fast forward to right before Spring Training this February, the Sox added former Houston Astro Alex Bregman on a 3-year deal worth $120 million, with opt-outs after the first two seasons. This is where things got messy.
Devers initially said that "3B was his position". Manager Alex Cora settled things, and made Raffy the full-time DH, and gave third to the reigning AL Gold Glover, Bregman. The problem was solved, and while Devers struggled out of the gate, he broke out of his early-season slump, being the table-setter for Bregman and breakout OF Wilyer Abreu. Devers has been an on-base machine, leading the AL in walks, as well as being 4th in doubles. Bregman has been a beast in Boston so far, sitting on top of several statistical categories. The 1-2 punch of Devers and Bregman should be celebrated, not used to tear one down to raise up the other, the way the fans have done so far this year.
Recent Drama:
The situation was further complicated on May 2nd, when 1B Triston Casas went down with a ruptured patella tendon in his left knee, prematurely ending his 2025 season. The promising young slugger was off to a rough start this season, but had picked things up prior to his injury. Casas missed most of 2024, and will likely miss the start of next season as he recovers. This was a gut punch to both him and the team, and I hope that he recovers well and gets a chance to prove himself next year. Get well soon, Triston.
Devers comes into this equation here. Raffy struggled mightily with defense while at 3B, and it has always been a looming question of whether or not he switches to the other side of the diamond. With Casas out for a lengthy part of the campaign, rumors swirled that Devers would be put back on the dirt, this time at a position that he has never played in his life; first base. Understandably, he was not happy about this story, as he has already moved spots once.
To preface my thoughts on the situation, I do think that there was a lack/break of communication between Rafael Devers, Alex Cora, and second-year GM Craig Breslow. With the nature of Devers’ comments before the spring, I believe that Breslow and the front office weren’t fully transparent with him while going over free agency when bringing in Bregman. Of course, Devers doesn’t have any input with that decision, but him coming out and saying he wouldn’t move off the only position he has ever played in his professional career is quite understandable.
Imagine this scenario: You have worked at the same position for 7-8 years at the highest level of your profession. Every year, you have improved your skills, and while one part of your work lags behind a bit, the other part you are truly elite at. Then, one day, despite being at the top of your department, your boss brings in a guy who is essentially your rival, and tells you to move off of your position and focus on your elite skill only. It may bug you initially, but after a month or two, you settle in and get in a groove. However, one said co-worker leaves, your boss tells you that you may have to uproot again, plus you'll have to learn a new skill on the fly as your company is on a tight schedule for a deadline. This is a job that you’ve never done in your life, and while there are potential outside options for your company to hire, they decide to put you in your new spot.
This is essentially what's happening with Devers. While the scenario isn’t necessarily the exact same as what is happening with the Red Sox, just put yourself in Devers’ shoes. He is constantly ridiculed for his defense, despite improving almost every year since coming up as a rookie. Last season, he produced his lowest-ever error total with just 12. Alex Bregman had 10. Devers was scapegoated by many as the sole reason for why the defense was struggling the last few seasons.
As a team in 2025, the Sox are 29th out of 30 teams in errors, just in front of the pathetic Colorado Rockies. This is not Rafael Devers’ fault. Bregman is currently tied for 3rd in errors in the AL. The narrative that Devers is the worst fielder is somewhat true, but also skewed and easily manipulated. Each year, he got better, and it may have not been pretty, but he put in the work and improved every single season.
Raffy also has never had any major issues in the clubhouse or with the team. Everyday, he shows up with a smile on his face and mashes baseballs. He is the best power hitter on the team, and once he broke out in 2019, he was the best overall batter on the squad too. He had a right to be angry when Bregman was brought in, but he became the DH, and when he struggled during the first week, the fanbase destroyed him. Removing his disastrous week in March where he went 0-19 with 15 punch-outs, Devers is hitting .332 with 12 bombs and 26 RBI, with a ridiculous .447 on-base percentage.
Look at this from his perspective; the team told him that when they extended him as the franchise player, he'd play 3B. Then, they take his glove away and tell him to DH. He struggles early, gets a lot of heat from the media and fans, and once he’s in a groove, strong rumors start swirling about putting him at a position completely foreign to him. People will say that he’s a baby and that he’s getting paid a bunch of money to play baseball, so he has no right to complain and he should shut up. I don’t argue with that, but fans struggle to see his point-of-view. If he is put at 1B tomorrow and makes an error because he has never played there in his life, the media will eat him alive.
There is a learning curve when switching to a new position, especially for a player who isn’t overly athletic. The narrative that the Red Sox can just stick him there immediately is flat out stupid. He could learn it and start there by the All-Star Break, but it's completely unfair to put Devers at the position immediately.
Final Thoughts:
I see both sides of the equation, unlike most members of Red Sox nation. Yes, there is a hole there at first base, but Breslow and the front office have neglected to find the organizational depth for it. The communication with him and Devers seems to be rocky in my opinion. Also, this question is about right away. Some of Raffy’s initial comments were taken out of context (see the tweet below), due to translation issues. I think that Boston’s best option at the position is outside of the organization. There are plenty of stopgaps and rentals for the position, like free agent Anthony Rizzo, Washington’s Nathaniel Lowe, and Minnesota’s Ty France to name a few.
Another potential solution (described below as well), is giving Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony, two Top-10 prospects in all of baseball who are both every athletic, reps at first base. That way, they have a route to the big league roster without sacrificing the defense of Ceddanne Rafaela in CF. While it would still be a learning curve, both are better athletes than Devers, and would give the team a spark by adding one of the two best young players in the the minors. However, this is still an unlikely option as both are young players who are still developing. While their bats would be nice to have, it's not worth stunting their gloves in the middle of the season.
No matter where Raffy slots in the lineup, he rakes. This season he has hit .299 with 12 homers (T-5th in MLB), 47 RBI (1st in MLB), a .415 OBP (5th in MLB) and a .972 (4th in MLB). He also has a 167 WRC+, 6th in the AL. He also has already accumulated a 2.0 WAR while not playing the field. Carita has had an astounding 2025 season so far, and his praise needs to be as loud has his disrespect. The cherry on top was the night of May 17th, when he launched his first career walk-off bomb. Enjoy reliving an awesome moment from a seemingly lost Boston season:
I hope the fanbase realizes how this situation really isn’t the end of the world. Devers’ comments were taken out of context, and there is a better way to go about this, like acquiring someone. The last thing that needs to happen is the fans and team alienating their young star, who has shown no signs of slowing down on offense, and is not even 30 yet. Rafael Devers is not a diva, and tearing him apart is not the way to go about this. I hope the team can come to a resolution, and on top of that, actually figure out how to play baseball again. All this situation does is mask how awfully inconsistent the team has been in ‘25. They have to figure out how to win, because the team is way too talented to keep on struggling like this. Hopefully this situation gets figured out, as Devers is a franchise cornerstone who is locked in on a deal that hopefully keeps him in Boston for the rest of his career.
That is all I have for now. Stay tuned at the end of the month for May’s recap of Boston baseball, and make sure to read up on what happened in April. Go Red Sox!
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