The strikeouts continued Monday for Rafael Devers. In the Boston Red Sox’s 8-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, the designated hitter went 0-for-3 at the plate with two walks and three strikeouts.
Through five games, Devers has yet to get a hit in 19 at-bats, and he has returned to the dugout 15 times due to a strikeout.
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After striking out 10 times through the first three games of the season, Devers set an MLB record. He’s now the first hitter since 1901 without a hit with at least 15 strikeouts in his team’s first five games, according to Baseball Reference.
The issues at the plate are a continuation from the end of Devers’ 2024 season, when he went 1-for-15 with 11 strikeouts over his final four games. He finished with a .272 batting average, 28 home runs and 83 RBI. He struck out a career-high 147 times.
Devers, 28, made noise during spring training when he insisted that he was not interested in giving up third base for Alex Bregman, a Gold Glove winner who signed with the Red Sox over the winter. Devers is one of the worst third basemen in baseball via multiple advanced metrics, including outs above average (OAA) and fielding run value (FRV).
Ultimately, the decision was made to have Devers serve as designated hitter instead of playing third, where he has started for 951 of his 956 MLB games.
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Now his slow start at the plate has drawn plenty of critics, including former Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, who questioned the conditioning of Devers.
“Maybe [Rafael Devers] is out of shape,” Papelbon said. “Maybe we gotta trim a little bit of fat. … Know what happens when you trim fat? Pigs squeal. … You trim fat, pigs squeal. That’s what you’re looking for — your pigs to squeal. They hit home runs.”
“Pigs squeal” is Papelbon’s way of saying the bats will make noise.
The Red Sox are off Tuesday before resuming their series with the Orioles on Wednesday. Maybe Devers can get himself a torpedo bat on the off day to help him snap out of this slump.
