Devers on fast-track to stardom
Five years ago this summer, Red Sox All-Star Rafael Devers was one of four prospects taking English classes twice per week in Salem, Virginia. The group instruction was part of their mandated routine, much like batting practice, fielding drills, and long bus rides across the hinterlands of the Carolina League. Devers was a pudgy 19-year-old third baseman from the Dominican Republic and alleged-can’t-miss prospect steadily working his way through the Red Sox farm system. Then-Red Sox general manager Mike Hazen was in no rush to push Devers through Boston’s high Class A way-station at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He was considered too important at a position where the Red Sox were lacking a future.
Salem is a mini-Ellis Island of Red Soxdom. Both a stop and launching pad for major-league careers and – in the case of several players in the past decade – championships for Boston.
Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Christian Vázquez and Andrew Benintendi also progressed through the Red Sox system via Salem. In 2106, Yoan Moncada and Benintendi gained national hype as the predicted future core of the Red Sox lineup while playing there. But those immersed in the world of minorleague prospects told all willing to pay attention that Devers – not Moncada nor Benintendi – was the real diamond on the neatly mowed grass and well-kept infield at Salem Memorial Ballpark that summer.
Here’s to the Baseball Nerds. They nailed this one.
It’s not that Benintendi and Moncada were flops. Both delivered for Boston. Benintendi made a pair of memorable postseason catches in 2018 that could be a part of NESN’s pre-game intro for the next 50 years. Moncada was dealt for Chris Sale after the 2016 season. Sale anchored Boston’s rotation during its last title run. He could be the difference for Boston down the stretch in the A.L. East this summer after he returns from Tommy John surgery. But they are gone.
Devers remains a Red Sox for life, thus far anyway.
Tuesday night, Devers makes his All-Star Game debut starting at third base for the American League in Denver. His fellow “amigo” – Alex Cora’s words, not mine – Bogaerts will be alongside at short. They are the first 3B/SS combo ever to star an All-Star Game for Boston and the first from the same team to do it since A-Rod and Derek Jeter 10 years ago.
Devers is one of five players in Boston’s Mile High Club tonight. (Shame on you. This is a family newspaper.)
Bogaerts started in 2016 and is making his third All-Star appearance. They are joined by J.D. Martinez, in the Mid-Summer Classic for the fourth time, and firsttime All-Star pitchers Matt Barnes and Nathan Eovaldi.
It is Devers who stands to gain the most notoriety at Coors Field Tuesday. Devers, 24, has developed into the all-around star that Ben Cherington & Company believed he would be when Boston signed him at age 16 in 2013. Devers grew up in the DR riding horses, playing baseball with his family and friends, and rooting for the Red Sox.
Devers’ nickname is “carita,” – or “baby face.” And his is the face of Generation Next from the DR. Following superstars like Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, and David Ortiz as fan favorites at Fenway. The ballplayers Devers admired as a kid.
Like it was for so many others, 2020 was forgettable for Devers. He worked off extra weight and chopped away at those high expectations this past offseason and during spring training. The benefits are obvious.
Age-wise, Devers sits at the epicenter of the “Let the Kids Play” generation – 20-somethings who have brought flair, batflips, and in-game celebrations into baseball’s mainstream. But his demeanor leans toward the internal. He flashes nearly as many facial mannerisms during each at-bat as he has doubles this season – 25. Devers is aggressive in clutch situations, hitting .333 while boasting a 1.073 OPS with runners in scoring position.
A well-documented bat flip in Boston’s first game at Yankee Stadium on June 4 was triggered by a three-run homer in the first. It was much more a two-handed heave than a Fernando Tatis Jr. Made for Sports Center special. More importantly for Devers, the ball that landed in the second deck was the result of a 95 mph fastball. It sent a message to all that Devers can crush your best stuff.
“It was just in the moment. It’s not something that I try to show up anybody,” Devers said that night. “It’s living in the moment. And just enjoying that.”
Devers’ glove remains part leather and part lead. He has eliminated the drama that used to accompany each grounder to the far-left side of the infield. He neatly balances each inexplicable error with plays that amaze.
The consistency is closer.
“I continue to work. Every day we go out there and continue to take ground balls,” Devers said earlier this season of his miscues. “I know that everybody makes errors.
It’s part of the game. There are many people out there who are negative toward that every time I don’t make a play or something. I don’t control that.
I don’t control them. I just continue working. I know that errors are part of the game. I will continue to work hard.” Welcome to Boston.
The doting dad of two daughters, Devers is building a farm in the DR and remains undecided on which animals he’ll add to its roster when finished.
Devers earned his first World Series ring in 2018. The “huge honor” of an All-Star Game selection is just more road sign on the HOV lane to superstardom.
Even his English is coming along. Devers conducts interviews and press availability using an interpreter. He fields questions asked in English on his own, but almost always replies in Spanish.
The possibility of interviews in English remains a “maybe.”
Everything in due time.