Infield prospect Devers dazzles with his defense, but hitting skills are special, too
Marlins prospect Jose Devers, acquired from the Yankees in the Giancarlo Stanton trade, is showcasing his defensive versatility in spring training.
It would be hard to tell Marlins infield prospect Jose Devers has rarely played third base by the way he made two big defensive plays at the position on Tuesday.
The first play is understandable. He was in the shift, essentially in shallow right field as one of three infielders on the right side of second base, when he fielded Matt Carpenter’s hard-hit ground ball and flipped the ball to Garrett Cooper for the first out of the game.
The second play truly showed his understanding for the position as he charged down the thirdbase line to make a play on a slow-rolling ground ball from Matt Szczur and fired a quick and accurate throw to first base to end the second inning.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly put Devers at the position in Tuesday’s 0-0 tie against the St.
Louis Cardinals merely as a way to get him at-bats. Devers has practiced the position during spring training but he has been a middle infielder for his entire career.
But showing his defensive versatility beyond second base and shortstop only adds to Devers’ value, and the 21-year-old sees the value in having experience at all three positions.
“Shortstop is a position that you need to be very fast,” Devers explained. “I’d say for third and sec— ond base, it’s more about timing. Being there on time for some of the plays. That’s one of the things that I can do to help with my timing to make those plays.”
Anything to help expedite his path to the big leagues. Devers is the Marlins’ No. 9 overall prospect according to Baseball America.
MLB Pipeline says he has the “best bat-to-ball skills in the system and has had no difficulty making consistent contact against more experienced pitchers.” Devers hit .325 and scored 13 runs in 33 games with then-Class A Advanced Jupiter in 2019 when he was 19 years old one of the youngest players in the Florida State League. He’s a career .278 hitter in the minor leagues.
His biggest improvement: Filling out his frame.
Mattingly said Devers, standing at 6 feet, was “maybe 150 pounds soaking wet” when he joined the Marlins organization as part of the Giancarlo Stanton trade in
December 2017.
Devers reported to spring training weighing 174 pounds.
“I put on some muscle mass this offseason,” Devers said, noting he gained about 14 pounds since the 2020 season ended. “That was really my focus. I was focused on my body this offseason. ... I ate a lot. I was working out a lot. That really helped me.”
Mattingly’s thoughts on the rising infielder?
“He’s just putting strength on,” Mattingly said. “He’s got a good swing, good bat-to-ball skills. He plays all over the field. Very good baseball instincts. I like this kid a lot. I thought he was really good in spring last year. You saw him make plays in the field that are just instinctive. Just one of those kids we like.
“He’s going to be a player.”
A lost minor-league season in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic interrupted Devers’ progression in the minors. He hasn’t played above Class A Advanced yet and likely will start 2021 in Double A.
But Devers did have the opportunity to develop his game at the Marlins’ alternate training site in Jupiter and was on the taxi squad for both the final road trip of the regular season and the Marlins’ two playoff series.
“It was a great experience,” Devers said. “Being around the big-leaguers, traveling with them, experiencing that moment of them going to the playoffs was a great experience.
Even though we’ve made a lot of adjustments because of the pandemic, we’ve been working.”
After being part of bigleague camp last season, Devers said his routines are becoming easier. He has good relationships with teammates on the big-league roster and anticipates his time will come soon.
But in the present, his focus is on gradual improvement.
“All I have to do,” Devers said, “is play the game well and show everyone I can do it.”
Elijah Wyche stood with his hands lifted to the sky and a hero’s smile stripped across his face, the end of an impromptu procession line near midcourt at the RP Funding Center. Kolby King wrapped him in a bear hug. Pete Laidley reached for a high five. Every one of Wyche’s teammates wanted their moment with Pembroke Pines Charter’s hero.
Pembroke Pines teetered on the brink of another final-four heartbreak Thursday until the final minute of the Class 5A semifinals. It took a sevenpoint comeback and lastminute survival in regulation just for the Jaguars to get into overtime, and then it took three gamewinning plays from Wyche in the last minute to pull out a 63-57 win against Tampa Jesuit.
“That’s what he does,” coach Dave Roca said. “There was no surprise there and he’s keeping his level of tenacity high throughout the game.”
Wyche scored four points and grabbed two rebounds — one on offense and one on defense — in the final minute to help Pembroke Pines (12-3) finish on a 6-0 run and fend off an upset bid from Jesuit (25-5) to reach the 5A championship game for the second straight year.
Last season, the Jaguars’ first trip to the final four ended with a devastating loss in the title game. Saturday, they’ll try to redeem themselves against Fort Walton Beach Choctawahatchee.
On Thursday, Pembroke Pines, ranked No. 33 in the nation by MaxPreps, needed a heroic final minute from Wyche to prevent its heartbreak from coming a round earlier in 2021.
Wyche and King were the foundation of everything the Jaguars did in the semifinal. Jesuit bombed three-pointers on one end and Pembroke Pines used its size advantage on the other. With the Jaguars either leading or tied for all of overtime, they slowed the pace and forced the Tigers to come to them. King dribbled away the clock until Jesuit came with a double team and then he found one of his forwards in the gaps in the Tigers’ zone. Most often, it was Wyche.
With a minute to go and
the game tied 57-57, King threaded a pass to Wyche in the high post and the wing attacked to hit a go-ahead layup with 55.5 seconds left.
Wyche finished with a game-high 24 points and 11 rebounds, and King added 14 points and a game-high eight assists.
“I was really grateful that my teammates were able to trust me on the high post,” Wyche said, “because it was open the whole game.”
Pembroke Pines took a timeout to set up its defense and still Jesuit senior Joe Pesansky got a good
look inside. His shot rolled off the rim and Wyche soared through traffic to pull in a defensive rebound and start the Jaguars off in the other direction.
King set up Laidley for an easy layup, but the forward blew the shot. Out of nowhere came Wyche, still racing back from the playing defense to climb through traffic again and grab an offensive rebound. The junior finished the putback and Pembroke Pines’ lead grew to 61-57.
“We always keep the game in the tempo of our play, not their play,” King said. “That’s how basically every time we win because they play our energy.”
Even as their torrent of threes pushed the Tigers into a 40-33 lead with 6:45 left in regulation, the Jaguars stuck to their formula.
Last year, Pembroke Pines was one of the best shooting teams in South Florida and lost in the state championship because it shot just 13.6 percent from three-point range in the final. This year, the Jaguars don’t need the three. Jesuit went 11 of 25 from deep and Pembroke Pines went 0 of 13, but the Tigers didn’t trick the Jaguars into a three-point shootout.
Pembroke Pines took a timeout after Jesuit’s 9-0 run gave the Tigers a seven-point lead and assistant coach Paul Brown gathered them. Brown, who has handled in-game coaching duties this year with Roca taking a backseat because of COVID-19 concerns, didn’t want the Jaguars to panic.
“Settle down,” he recalled telling them. “We’ve got a lot of time left. We can get back in this game if we do all the right things execution-wise and defense-wise.”