BOSTON — In clubbing a leadoff homer to right field in the fourth inning Tuesday afternoon, Rafael Devers joined an exclusive Red Sox club.
The homer was his 30th of the year, making Devers only the third player in franchise history to have three 30-homer seasons before the age of 27. The other two? Perhaps you’ve heard of them: Ted Williams and Jim Rice, Hall of Famers both.
It was one of the few highlights in an otherwise frustrating afternoon for the Red Sox, who dropped the first game of their doubleheader, 3-2, to the New York Yankees.
And it also served to highlight the dichotomy that is the 2023 season for Devers.
On the one hand, Devers leads the team in homers and is tied for the team lead in RBI with Justin Turner. Among qualifying players, he’s second in OPS to Triston Casas, and leads the team in slugging percentage. He’s also the Red Sox leader in total bases.
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But measured against past seasons, Devers has come up somewhat short. Unless he goes on a tear in the final two and a half weeks, he’s unlikely to match his OPS or OPS+ in each of the last two seasons. With 34 doubles, he probably isn’t going to equal his doubles total (42) from a season ago and is nowhere near his career high of 54 established in 2019.
On the defensive front, Devers has already committed three more errors than a year ago in three fewer games. His defensive metrics – including defensive runs saved — are worse than a year ago.
And in a non-statistical measurement, Devers has seemed far less consistent and more prone to hot and cold streaks. His homer Tuesday, as an example, ended a streak in which he had gone 18 games without one.
Certainly Devers hasn’t had a bad season, at least as measured by offense. Having already hit the 30-homer benchmark, he’ll soon get to the 100 RBI mark for the third time. Both are ordinarily indicative of a standout season.
Still, there’s a feeling that he hasn’t had quite the impact that was expected. At 26 — he’ll turn 27 next month — Devers is just now entering his prime, with the thought that he would enjoy a breakout season and truly elevate himself into an elite group of, say, the best handful of hitters in the game.
Some of his failure to have a transcendent season may have to do with the rest of the lineup. With close friend Xander Bogaerts gone, Devers became the focal point in the Red Sox lineup, the one hitter opponents were determined to not let beat them.
Too often, that’s been the case. Devers has tried to walk to fine line between being the Red Sox’s go-to hitter without being overly aggressive. He’s almost certain to post a career high in walks, a measure of both how carefully he’s been pitched and his improved selectivity.
“This is the first year he’s kind of like been ‘The Guy,’ ” said Alex Cora. “Understanding what teams are going to do against you and all that.”
“That’s something where you need to make adjustments,” said Devers, “and I haven’t been able to do it lately.”
The Sox essentially swapped out J.D. Martinez for Justin Turner, but never really replaced the offensive contributions they got from Bogaerts. Trevor Story missed the first four-plus month, and while Triston Casas has emerged as a force in the second half, he was hitting below .200 through the middle of June. Adam Duvall missed two months, then took another month to lock in his swing.
Too often, the offensive burden has fallen on Devers. And while his season has been commendable, it hasn’t been spectacular.
“I haven’t been very consistent,” Devers acknowledged. “As a ballplayer, I know those are good numbers that I have. But I also know that I can give more and I know this could have been a better season for me.”
There were long stretches where Devers didn’t have an impact — games in which he rolled over to the right side, or chased pitches out of the zone in a desperate effort to produce the hit that could make the difference for his team.
Another impact bat, preferably righthanded, could make Devers even more dangerous next year.
“I know there’s more work to do and still more ground to cover,’’ said Devers in putting his season in perspective.
For now, he’s had the best overall offensive season of anyone on the club, but with the nagging feeling that, just like virtually everything else associated with the 2023 Red Sox, it could have and should have been better.
