Giants' Rafael Devers: Multi-hit effort in team debut
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Devers went 2-for-5 with an RBI double during Tuesday's 3-2 loss to the Guardians.
Devers made his Giants debut after being acquired from Boston on Sunday. The 28-year-old lined a double to right field in the third inning, giving San Francisco a 2-1 lead. He later added a single to left field in the ninth, marking his second straight multi-hit game. While he started at designated hitter Tuesday, Devers is expected to see time at first base, per Angelina Martin of NBC Sports Bay Area -- a position he declined to take reps at earlier this season with the Red Sox.
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Giants' Rafael Devers: Expected to get look at first base
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Manager Bob Melvin said that Devers -- who will start at designated hitter and bat third in his Giants debut Tuesday against the Guardians -- will also see some playing time at first base with his new team, Angelina Martin of NBC Sports Bay Area reports. "Yeah, we talked to [Devers] a little bit and, like he said, he goes, 'I'll play wherever you want me to play. I'll hit wherever you want me to hit,'" Melvin said. "We're going to work with him and get him some groundballs at first and make sure he's comfortable before we put him over there, and that's pretty much the way we look at it right now -- little bit of DH and a little bit of first."
Devers refused to take reps at first base with Boston when Triston Casas suffered a season-ending knee injury in May, but after being shipped out to San Francisco in a stunning deal Sunday, the 28-year-old expressed a desire to make a positive first impression with his new organization and said through an interpreter Tuesday that he's "here to do whatever they want me to do," per Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. Aside from three innings at second base and three innings at shortstop, Devers has never played any position but third base during his career. He had served exclusively as a DH for Boston prior to being traded, and Melvin made no mention of the three-time All-Star moving back to his former position, even while Matt Chapman (hand) looks to be at least a couple weeks away from returning from the injured list. Instead, Devers looks as though he'll initially be used mostly at DH with the Giants, though the eventual plan is for him to take over as the club's everyday first baseman once the coaching staff feels he's capable of handling the position defensively.
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Giants' Rafael Devers: Headed to San Francisco
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Devers was traded to the Giants on Sunday in return for right-handed pitcher Jordan Hicks, lefty starter Kyle Harrison, minor-league outfielder James Tibbs and minor-league reliever Jose Bello, Robert Murray of FanSided.com reports.
Devers went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in Sunday's 2-0 win over the Yankees, which will ultimately be his final one in a Boston uniform. The 28-year-old's displeasure with the organization has been well-chronicled this year, and he will now get a fresh start in San Francisco. Devers is batting .272 with 15 home runs, 58 RBI, 47 runs scored and a stolen base over 272 at-bats through 73 games this season. His 15 home runs on the year are one higher than the Giants' team total of 14 long balls from lefty bats this year, so he'll address an obvious need for his new squad. It's unclear if Devers will return to the field at third base with the Giants or not, especially considering Matt Chapman (hand) occupies that role when healthy.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Homers in loss
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Devers went 1-for-4 with a walk, a two-run home run and an additional run scored in Friday's 9-6 loss to the Yankees.
Devers brought the Red Sox a bit closer with a two-run shot in the seventh inning, but that's where an attempted comeback from an early 7-0 deficit ended. For Devers, the homer was his first in 13 games and extended a hit streak to five games. He was one of the hottest hitters in MLB for much of May, but the designated hitter entered Friday's contest with a .195 average (8-for-41) over the previous 11 games. Devers has 13 home runs and 56 RBI through 65 games this season.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Belts first walk-off homer
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Devers went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, a walk, two total runs and two total RBI in Saturday's 7-6 win against Atlanta.
Devers was a big factor in Boston's comeback victory, first plating a run with a single in the seventh inning. He then ended the game with a 402-foot solo shot in the ninth for the first walk-off long ball of his career. Devers has reached base safely in 19 of his past 20 contests and is batting .397 with six home runs and 20 RBI during that span.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Perfect from plate vs. KC
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Devers went 4-for-4 with three RBI, one walk and a run scored in Saturday's 10-1 win over the Royals.
Devers put the Red Sox on the board in the third inning with an RBI double, and he proceeded to crack RBI singles in the fifth and eighth. It was the second time this season that Devers tallied four hits, and he has recorded at least one hit in seven of his last nine games, going 14-for-34 (.412) with one stolen base, two runs scored, one home run and 10 RBI over that span.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Not being considered for first base
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Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Tuesday that he has not had a conversation with Devers about playing first base with Triston Casas (knee) out and doesn't plan to, Mac Cerullo of the Boston Herald reports.
While Devers hasn't started a game at a position other than third base in pro ball, he would appear best suited of all of Boston's internal options to handle first base following Casas' season-ending knee injury. However, Cora plans to stick with Devers as his designated hitter and use a combination of Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro at first base for the time being.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Goes deep Tuesday
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Devers went 1-for-4 with a solo home run and a walk in Tuesday's win over the Blue Jays.
Devers swatted a 422-foot blast to right in the third for his only knock of the evening. It's his third home run in his last four games, a span during which he's compiled four RBI and scored six runs while posting a 3:3 BB:K. Devers is still working on upping his batting average after a very slow start to the year. He's currently hitting .217/.352/.417 with five homers, 18 RBI, 21 runs and a 24:39 BB:K in 142 plate appearances.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Homers in win
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Devers went 2-for-6 with a solo home run and an additional run scored in Sunday's 13-3 win over the Guardians.
Devers went deep during the first game of Saturday's doubleheader and followed it up with another long ball in the sixth inning Sunday. The 28-year-old entered the weekend below the Mendoza Line for the year but went 5-for-13 with three extra-base hits, three RBI and five runs scored against the Guardians. He's now hitting .216 with four homers, 17 RBI and 20 runs scored across 137 plate appearances.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Makes hard contact Saturday
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Devers went 3-for-7 with two walks, a double, a home run, two RBI and three runs across both ends of Saturday's doubleheader split against the Guardians.
After going 0-for-15 over the last five games of Boston's most recent homestand, Devers was happy to get away from Fenway. The 28-year-old slugger launched a solo shot off Ben Lively in the third inning of the matinee, his third long ball of the season, and he reached base three times in each contest including a hit-by-pitch. Despite his struggles making consistent contact so far in 2025, Devers has had no trouble getting on base, and over his last 11 games he's slashing .184/.373/.421 thanks to an 11:9 BB:K.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Smacks two doubles Wednesday
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Devers went 2-for-4 with two doubles in Wednesday's 2-1 extra-innings loss to the Blue Jays.
Wednesday was the second time Devers recorded two doubles in a game, and it was his fourth multi-hit game of the season. Since starting the season 0-for-19 with 15 strikeouts, Devers has bounced back and has gone 13-for-30 with five walks, eight runs scored, one home run and eight RBI.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Impressive in doubleheader
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Devers combined to go 5-for-8 with a home run, two doubles, five RBI, five runs scored and two walks in Sunday's doubleheader against St. Louis.
Devers went 1-for-4 with his first long ball of the year and drew a game-tying walk in the ninth inning in Game 1 of the doubleheader before catching fire with a 4-for-4 performance in Game 2. After a historically bad start to the 2025 campaign, Devers is beginning to look like himself again; over his last five games, he's gone 10-for-19 (.526) with four extra-base hits and a 5:2 BB:K. Devers was in an 0-for-19 rut but has already boosted his slash line to .263/.404/.421 with his recent hot streak.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Will start Monday
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Devers will be part of the starting lineup Monday against the Orioles, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.
The Red Sox had a few positive takeaways after dropping three of four games in their season-opening series versus the Rangers, but one glaring negative storyline is Devers, who went 0-for-16 with 12 strikeouts. Red Sox manager Alex Cora talked to Devers about tightening his batting stance to create a better base, but the skipper also acknowledged that a player knows his swing the best and trusts Devers to make whatever adjustments the player feels are needed.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Strikeouts piling up
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Devers went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in Friday's 4-1 loss to the Rangers.
Devers' first two games in a new role as the designated hitter have not been pretty. He's 0-for-8 with seven strikeouts (six swinging). While some may conclude the adjustment from playing the field to being a batter only has impacted Devers, Red Sox manager Alex Cora summed it up quite succinctly to Ian Browne of MLB.com. "Not catching up with the fastball," Cora said. "It's very simple. [He's getting] 3-2 counts. The at-bats are OK, but not being able to cash in." Devers didn't disagree with the manager. He dealt with injuries to both shoulders during spring training, which delayed his Grapefruit League debut until March 15, and finished the spring with just 15 plate appearances. That could be part of the issue, although Devers said he did the necessary work on his swing on the back fields.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Rough opener
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Devers started at designated hitter and went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in Thursday's 5-2 win over Texas.
Devers, who had just 15 spring plate appearances, looked like he could have used more in Florida. He struck out swinging three times and whiffed six times in all, including five times against Nathan Eovaldi's breaking ball, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. To be fair, Devers wasn't the only one that struggled; Boston's top four hitters went a combined 1-for-16.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Officially named DH by Cora
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Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Wednesday in a radio appearance on 93.7 WEEI that Devers will be the team's designated hitter this season.
It's been clear for a while that Devers would serve as the Red Sox's primary DH, but Wednesday marked the first time Cora has officially made the declaration. Alex Bregman will man Devers' former position at third base. Devers has never been a full-time DH before, and some players can have trouble adjusting to the role, but the 28-year-old is a good bet to remain highly productive with the bat as long as the shoulder problems he dealt with last season don't flare up again.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Won't play third base this spring
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Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Wednesday that it's very unlikely Devers will play third base before the end of spring training, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports.
Cora still hasn't officially announced that Alex Bregman will be his third baseman and Devers will be his designated hitter this season, but that will be the setup for the foreseeable future with Devers unable to play the field. Devers has just two games under his belt this spring, as he's been working on getting his timing down at the plate following last season's shoulder issues.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Making spring debut Saturday
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Devers (shoulders) is batting second as the designated hitter in Saturday's Grapefruit League game against Atlanta, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.
It's the first official appearance of spring training for Devers, who was built up slowly during the first half of camp after his shoulder problems last year. The 28-year-old appears set to begin the season as Boston's primary designated hitter, as he said Thursday he's OK with being utilized that way after previously indicating that he was unwilling to move off third base. That development will allow Alex Bregman to step in at the hot corner after signing a deal worth up to $120 million in February, though the Red Sox haven't officially announced their plans on who will play where.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Now says he's willing to DH
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Devers (shoulders) said Thursday that he is OK with being a designated hitter if that's where the Red Sox choose to use him, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.
Devers was speaking publicly for the first time since telling reporters in mid-February that he was a third baseman and was unwilling to be a DH. The 28-year-old has spoken with manager Alex Cora and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow since then, and while he wanted to keep the details of that conversation to himself, he now appears amendable to serving as the team's DH. The Red Sox have not yet announced a decision on where Devers or Alex Bregman will play, but all signs point to Devers indeed being the DH while Bregman handles third base. Devers homered during a simulated game Thursday and is expected to finally make his Grapefruit League debut Saturday against Atlanta.
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Red Sox's Rafael Devers: Set to play in sim game
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Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Wednesday that he expects Devers (shoulders) to take at-bats during a simulated game Thursday, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports.
If all goes well in the sim game, Devers could be cleared to make his Grapefruit League debut Saturday versus Atlanta. Devers appears to be further away from taking part in full defensive drills at third base, making it likelier by the day that he'll be limited to a designated-hitter duties to begin the 2025 campaign. If that's the case, Masataka Yoshida (shoulder) would presumably open the season on the injured list, as he's been making starts at DH this spring but has yet to complete his throwing progression and could be weeks away from being ready to play the corner outfield.
