Shaping up for a strong year
Devers arrives in better condition, wants quicker start to season
When Rafael Devers returned to Boston for summer camp as the Red Sox prepared for their pandemic-shortened season last July, the third baseman didn’t arrive in the best shape.
spring training
Devers said Wednesday that after camp paused last spring due to the pandemic, he went back home to the Dominican Republic, where he continued working out but didn’t have the same structure he had when he was with the team. Though he doesn’t want to use it as an excuse, it led to what’s become a recurring theme in the 24-year-old’s young career, as he got off to a slow start when the regular season came.
This year, though, it seems Devers is taking his preparation more seriously.
Alex Cora said Devers has put in extra work this offseason, starting with spending three weeks in Boston and a month in Tampa this winter. He showed up to spring training early this year, and though it may be a cliche, the manager is impressed with the shape he’s in. And they’re hoping that will translate into a stronger start this year.
“He will be OK,” Cora said. “He’s a guy who obviously throughout his career, he’s a slow starter. I don’t know. He’s in better shape this year than last year when he went to summer camp. I think he understands his swing a little better. Hopefully he gets off to a good start, but I think at the end the numbers will be there. He’s that type of hitter. There are those guys that start fast and they finish slow. With Raffy it’s the other way around. We’ll see if he can put a whole season together. It will be fun. …
“He’ll be as good as he wants to. And he’s put in the work. He put the work in the offseason. … That’s a good start.”
Devers’ offensive numbers to start the last two seasons have left something to be desired. In 2019, which became his first full season, he batted .294 with eight RBI in his first 30 games and didn’t hit a home run until May 3. But that’s when he started heating up and the third baseman ultimately finished the year batting .311 with 54 doubles, 32 homers and 115 RBI, numbers that introduced him as a budding superstar.
In 2020, though, his start was much of the same. In his first 21 games, Devers batted .183 with two homers and five RBI, but rebounded over his next 27 games by hitting .376 with nine doubles, nine homers and 31 RBI.
This year, he doesn’t want to wait before getting hot.
“There are 162 games in the season,” Devers said. “It’s natural that there are going to be ups and downs throughout, but from the first game, the first pitch, I’m always trying to make adjustments to my game. Whether I have a bad game in my first game, I’m still trying to get better the next day. It’s just building off of that, trying to get more consistent, continuing my routine. I’ve always had it a certain way. There are always going to be ups and downs in the game, but I do want to get off to a better start.”
Of course, Devers’ defense at third still stands for substantial improvement after leading all third basemen in errors in three consecutive seasons, with 24 in 2018, 22 in 2019 and 14 last year. He said he didn’t work on anything specifically this offseason, but his defense is certainly a focal point.
The return of Cora could help. Devers is excited to reunite with his manager, who he’s called something of a father figure in the past. The two have a unique relationship and Devers should only continue to blossom under Cora’s watch.
“He’s someone that I can talk to about anything,” Devers said. “He’s someone that just knows how to communicate with me, no matter what it is that I’m talking to him about. He understands me, and that’s something that is extremely helpful for my growth. There’s a lot of guys that, they might believe in you, but he’s on me from Day One all the time about doing this, doing that, so having a manager like that, that pushes you because they care about you so much, it’s something that is greatly appreciated.”
Devers faces a pivotal season in 2021 to continue to show why the Red Sox should invest in a long future with him. Chaim Bloom indicated earlier this week that contract extension talks could pick up with some players this spring, and Devers is certainly a candidate for that.
Devers said Wednesday that he’s just focusing on the season and would let his representatives take care of it when the time comes. But he believes he has the talent to be mentioned among the game’s best players, some of whom have been paid handsomely. And he seems motivated to prove it.
“I know the type of talent that I have,” Devers said. “Obviously, if people don’t want to consider me in that group, that’s for them to discuss, but me, I know what I can do in this game and I know what I’ve done, and I can only focus on that because obviously I know that the defense is a thing but at the same time, I’m always out there working and improving my game. I know where I belong and I know what I feel about myself and I feel like that’s the most important part.”
One strange perspective on the 2021 Red Sox being halfway-in on competing this year and halfway-in on building for the future comes from their skipper.
How does a manager whose “allin” motto led them to a World Series title in his rookie year on the bench now turn away from something that worked so well, all in the name of longterm, sustainable success?
“That’s not going to change,” Alex Cora said. “When it’s April 1, it’s all in. We’ve got to do everything possible to win as many games as possible and get to
October. But obviously, where we’re at right now …”
Cora paused, then backtracked.
“It was my first year (in 2018),” he said. “I didn’t know any better. I got here to help this team to win the World Series, so it was like, full blast at that. Now, obviously, it’s a little bit different.”
Under Dave Dombrowski in ‘18, Cora’s all-in mentality was a perfect match. He could take various risks that helped win games immediately without worrying about future ramifications.
Now under new chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, the Red Sox are in the business of building an efficient and sustainable organization, a much different model.
The problem, if one wishes to view it as a problem, is that some of the pitchers Cora has been impressed with this spring are unlikely to be available options to him when the season starts on April 1.
Pitching prospects Connor Seabold, 25, Jay Groome, 22, and Bryan Mata, 21, are all on the 40-man roster and in camp, but without any service time yet, they’re unlikely to start the year in the big leagues.
It’s not the Red Sox’ fault that service time rules in Major League Baseball are backwards, set up to keep the game’s best prospects in the minors to start the year. To make a big league roster on Opening Day would begin a players’ six years of control early; delaying their debut until mid-season could net the Sox another year of control.
But for every rule, there are exceptions. The Sox called up Tanner Houck, 24, to make his big league debut last fall.
Asked Wednesday what the circumstances would need to look like for the Red Sox to have a prospect with no service time start the 2021 season in the big leagues, Bloom said it was situational.
“I think it’s helpful for me to come into camp with a good idea of where you think a player is at right now and things that you can see or that happen in camp that might change your assessment,” Bloom told the Herald. “You don’t want it to be just because the player has a few hot weeks and puts up good numbers. But if a player is showing fundamentally differently from what you expected in camp, that might change your thought process.
“There also might be players that come into camp with you fully hoping and expecting that they will seize that opportunity to make the club on Opening Day. And you’re looking for them to check boxes you think they will check.”
On the position player side, one might wonder if Jarren Duran would be competing for the job in center field if he wasn’t also without big league service time. The 24-year-old was the talk of the alternate site last year before impressing in Puerto Rico over the winter. And the Sox, as of yet, have not brought back free agent Jackie Bradley Jr., leaving center field open for competition.
“I think this one falls into the category of never wanting to put a limit on someone and keeping as open of a mind as you can,” Bloom said. “Especially after a year where we don’t know as much about players as we might normally because of the unique situation we had at the alternate site.
“For a guy who hasn’t played Triple-A ball, that’s a big leap. For a guy who has not been an outfielder until recently, that’s a big leap. The progress he’s made over the last couple years shows we probably shouldn’t put anything past him. But it’s certainly not something I think we would want to do because he had a few hot weeks. We’d want to do it if we thought it was really in his best interest in terms of helping him reach his ceiling as quickly as we can get him there. And our best interest as an organization.”
Bloom thinks there’s plenty of competition in center field already.
“I think we have a number of guys on the roster who can play center and can play it pretty well,” he said.
Cora said it was unlikely he’d ask Bloom to have a prospect without service time start the year in the big leagues, but he’s been impressed with what he’s seen.
“It’s about learning and giving them information, but at the same time, getting that good impression,” he said. “That’s part of what they’re here for. But nah, I think those conversations are going to be probably for later (in the year).”