SEATTLE — Red Sox manager Alex Cora on Tuesday debunked a report from Yahoo! Sports that Rafael Devers was upset at rookie Kristian Campbell for volunteering to play first base.
Cora said Campbell never volunteered to play first base. It was the team who approached Campbell about learning the position.
“Kristian Campbell didn’t ask to play first base,” Cora said Tuesday here at T-Mobile Park. “I talked with him about it and he was willing to try it.”
The report came after the Red Sox traded Devers to the Giants in a shocking blockbuster Sunday.
Yahoo! Sports wrote, “Devers was also upset when the rookie Campbell volunteered to play first base this season — interpreting it as a slight to his own stature.”
“The first time I heard about that was this morning,” Cora said.
Campbell began practicing at first base May 16. He took reps there daily for a couple of weeks but never saw any game action.
Devers was angry during spring training when the Red Sox asked him to become a full-time DH after promising him he would be their long-term third baseman when he signed his extension in January 2023.
He then refused to play first base when chief baseball officer Craig Breslow asked him to try it out after first baseman Triston Casas ruptured his patellar tendon and underwent season-ending surgery in early May.
Devers said earlier Tuesday at his Giants introductory press conference that he’ll play wherever the Giants ask him to play.
More Red Sox coverage
- Red Sox trade acquisition hits 99.7 mph in debut; ‘Breaking ball is real’
- Why Red Sox’ Walker Buehler called performance ‘tough and embarrassing’
- How Rafael Devers fared in first game after Red Sox traded him to Giants
- Red Sox reactions: Offense records 2 hits, Walker Buehler allows 8 runs
- As giddy Rafael Devers arrives in San Francisco, Red Sox drama ‘in the past’ | Chris Cotillo
