Alex Cora and Lucas Giolito applauded Rafael Devers’ hitting ability after he smashed a 440-foot home run to give the Boston Red Sox a 3-1 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday. With Boston continuing to put pressure on Devers to move to first base, the team has made clear that, if nothing else, his hitting is still appreciated.
“I’m glad he’s on my team and I don’t have to pitch to him anymore,” Giolito said of Devers, per an MLB.com story. “He’s an incredible hitter and we’re very lucky to have him.”
Devers became one of the most expensive designated hitters in MLB this season when the Red Sox moved him out of the field for Alex Bregman, who provides more consistent defense at the hot corner. It was a move that took time for Devers to grow into. After all, he didn’t want to leave the field anyway.
Once Devers finally got his first hit of the 2025 season, he catapulted his offense and showed exactly why the Red Sox wanted to keep him in the lineup. But a tragic injury to first baseman Triston Casas put a major hole in the Red Sox lineup, and their seemingly easy fix was to move Devers back into the field to a position he’s never played.
It wasn’t an easy fix at all. In fact, it put a divide between Devers and the front office. But the team knows where it stands with Devers.
Lucas Giolito defending Rafael Devers’ hitting makes it clear where Devers’ value truly is on this roster
Devers has a right to challenge a second position move this season. He was yanked out of the field for Bregman, right after the Red Sox spent big on a third baseman despite inking Devers to a 10-year, $315 million deal back in 2023. They could have used that to get reinforcements at first.
You can’t be mad at Devers for already conforming to the team’s wishes and moving to DH. Now to thrust him into a new position, who does that help? Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic brought up a good point too: Devers moving to a new position appeases no one except the team and could end up being catastrophic. He could embarrass himself while simultaneously sacrificing his offensive production. Are the Red Sox willing to sacrifice .285/.407/.494 slash line for a maybe?
This is a Red Sox problem, not a Devers problem. Giolito made that clear when he spoke on Devers’ importance to this team. Devers didn’t get paid upwards of $30 million a year to be a DH, but he certainly didn’t get paid all of that to be an experimental first baseman.