{"id":43798,"date":"2025-04-25T03:27:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T03:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43798"},"modified":"2025-04-25T03:27:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T03:27:17","slug":"rafael-devers-latest-slump-has-red-sox-fans-sounding-the-alarm-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43798","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Devers\u2019 latest slump has Red Sox fans sounding the alarm again"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mb-0 md:mb-9 relative md:mx-10 md:mb-9\">\n<figure>\n<div class=\"overflow-hidden bg-lightGrey\"><picture><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full\" title=\"Seattle Mariners v Boston Red Sox\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_22,w_5241,h_2948\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/14\/01jsms6m58d923h8eww4.jpg\" alt=\"Seattle Mariners v Boston Red Sox\" width=\"5241\" height=\"2948\" data-uw-rm-alt-original=\"Seattle Mariners v Boston Red Sox\" data-uw-rm-alt=\"ALT\" \/><\/picture><\/div><figcaption class=\"ml-1 pb-2 mt-4 md:m-3 text-darkGrey font-group-tiny\">Seattle Mariners v Boston Red Sox | Maddie Meyer\/GettyImages<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex flex-wrap\">\n<div class=\"flex mr-4 lg:w-[calc(70%-3em)] max-w-full\">\n<div class=\"hidden md:block md:mx-4 hidden md:block\" data-testid=\"share-menu\">\n<div class=\"sticky top-20 mb-3\" data-testid=\"share-menu-inner\">\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Rafael Devers began the 2025 season on a dreadful 0-for-19 streak at the plate. The Boston Red Sox&#8217;s best bats took quite a while to warm up to the regular season,\u00a0but Devers&#8217; slow start broke records.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Devers gave fans a brief glimpse at his old self during Boston&#8217;s series against the Orioles at Camden Yards and the Cardinals and Blue Jays at Fenway Park, but the designated hitter is back to looking lost at the plate. Devers hasn&#8217;t recorded a hit since April 19, and he was\u00a0completely stymied by the Mariners&#8217;\u00a0pitchers, in particular.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Devers&#8217; offensive decline has been puzzling. The slugger posted a great season at the plate and his best year defensively in 2024, with a .272\/.354\/.516 slash line, .870 OPS and 28 homers while battling two injured shoulders. Scans of Devers&#8217; shoulders taken after the season showed no structural damage, but he&#8217;s still swinging like there&#8217;s something wrong.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">One of the most glaring\u00a0changes in Devers&#8217; game is that he&#8217;s missing fastballs.\u00a0The vast majority of pitches he&#8217;s seen this year have been fastballs \u2014 he&#8217;s seen 339 of them compared to 112 breaking balls and 52 offspeed pitches \u2014 and he&#8217;s slashing just .179\/.216\/.321 against them with 22 strikeouts. In 2024, he batted .266\/.254\/.518 with 92 strikeouts against 1,485 fastballs.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"scroll-mt-24 my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Rafael Devers is back in his slump and hasn&#8217;t recorded a hit in the Red Sox&#8217;s last five games<\/h2>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered\"><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" class=\"optanon-category-C0004 ot-vscat-C0004 \" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1906760135655014430&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fbosoxinjection.com%2Frafael-devers-latest-slump-has-red-sox-fans-sounding-the-alarm-again&amp;sessionId=4634c9e6b9a6ada873356f9a875f0901187b86bc&amp;siteScreenName=bosoxinjection&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-tweet-id=\"1906760135655014430\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Devers&#8217; whiff rate has also increased since 2024. He ranks in the third percentile in whiff percentage compared to the 14th percentile in 2024 and the 45th percentile in 2023.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">When Devers does make contact, he hits the ball well. Nine of his 15 hits have gone for extra bases \u2014 he&#8217;s collected seven doubles and two homers \u2014 and he ranks in the 99th percentile in average exit velocity, the 97th percentile in barrel percentage, and the 100th percentile in barrel percentage. Devers also walks more than ever, and he leads the American League with 21 free passes and ranks in the 96th percentile.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">The Red Sox need to diagnose Devers&#8217; issue soon. The Red Sox noted that he had timing issues during spring training, but he still hasn&#8217;t been able to get ahead of the ball. Devers&#8217; lack of spring training could be part of his problem \u2014 he missed out on spring training games to take at-bats against Red Sox pitchers, which could be coming back to hurt him when it matters.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">Jarren Duran, Devers and Alex Bregman should be a deadly top of the order for Boston. The\u00a0transition from third baseman to DH can&#8217;t be easy,\u00a0but Devers doesn&#8217;t even look like the same player during his slumps.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><main class=\"min-w-0 flex-1\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"viewablity-block\"><\/div>\n<p><\/main><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seattle Mariners v Boston Red Sox | Maddie Meyer\/GettyImages Rafael Devers began the 2025 season on a dreadful 0-for-19 streak at the plate. The Boston Red Sox&#8217;s&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rafael Devers\u2019 latest slump has Red Sox fans sounding the alarm again - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=43798\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rafael Devers\u2019 latest slump has Red Sox fans sounding the alarm again - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Seattle Mariners v Boston Red Sox | Maddie Meyer\/GettyImages Rafael Devers began the 2025 season on a dreadful 0-for-19 streak at the plate. 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