Devers: the new ‘carita’ of the Red Sox
By César Augusto Márquez
The 1,665 miles separating Santo Domingo from Boston are paved with merengue, grateful memories and baseball — especially baseball. It’s not a coincidence that a team that was founded in the first year of the 20th century has retired only 10 numbers, and two of them belong to Dominican players.
Pedro Martínez and David Ortiz combined to break the Curse of the Bambino and bring a World Series championship to Beantown for first time in 86 years. Pedro has already been enshrined into Cooperstown, and Big Papi seems like a good bet to make it sooner than later.
Now, less than a year after Ortiz’s retirement, a new Dominican phenom is rousing Red Sox Nation. His name is Rafael Devers, a stocky, 6-footer from the small, northern coastal town of Sánchez who is barely 20 years old. His nickname is Carita, or “baby face.” Someday, he might be the face of the Red Sox.
“I want to meet David (Ortiz), follow in his footsteps and take his road to success,” said Devers, who gave La Vida Baseball two separate interviews in Spanish in August.
While his offensive production slowed down after an historic 20-game debut, he is no Diaper Dandy who got lucky during a hot streak. Devers is clearly a player with big dreams and a quick, compact left-handed stroke. He studies pitchers, understands situations and, best of all, knows how to rake.
Evoking Legends
Called up on July 24 after only 38 plate appearances in Triple-A Pawtucket, Devers went on a tear that evoked legendary feats. The rookie hit his first homer in his second game. He recorded four hits in his sixth game, the second-youngest Red Sox to do so at the start of his career after Hall of Famer Ted Williams, who stroked four hits in his fourth game in 1939.
On Aug. 13, in the ninth inning of a 2-1 game at New York, Devers blasted Aroldis Chapman’s 102.8-mph fastball to left-centerfield, the hardest pitch hit for a home run since Major League Baseball started tracking pitch velocity in 2008. Devers tied the game, allowing Boston to win, 3-2, in 10 innings.
The next day, against the Cleveland Indians, Devers homered twice in a loss. The 35 players since 1913 who have hit two home runs in a game before turning 21 include Williams, Willie Mays, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Carlos Correa.
And when he saw the Yankees again, Devers hit dingers on back-to-back nights, becoming the second player under 21 to homer in three consecutive games against the Bronx Bombers. The first? Babe Ruth in 1915.
Devers capped his torrid start by hitting a total of eight home runs in his first 20 games, breaking by one the record for a player under 21 set by Puerto Rican Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda in 1958 and tied by Ron Swoboda in 1965.
How good was Devers in that stretch? He hit .364/.424/.727 with 16 RBI.
“Since I got called up, I’ve had an amazing time,” Devers said. “I still have a lot to learn, but I’m so glad to be here.”
Devers never stops smiling — even while slumping. Pitchers figured out Devers’ kryptonite: fastballs in, changeups away. Hard and soft, keeping him off balance as his averaged dropped to .284 twice in recent weeks.
“Obviously, the pitchers have made their adjustments. Now I have to make my own,” Devers acknowledged.
After a three-game stretch last week in which he went 7-for-12 with two doubles, Devers seems to be back on track, hitting .300/.360/.513 with 18 RBI through Sept. 11.
A player’s son
Devers felt in love with the game early, when he was barely 3. His father, Rafael Sr., who played baseball growing up in the Dominican Republic, took him to a field and the diamond quickly became the child’s second home.
“My dad is one of the most important persons for me,” Devers said. “I liked to see my father play and I wanted to be like him. I made many sacrifices to keep his dream alive and become a professional, the big leaguer he could never be.”
Even when the father stopped playing to work full-time, he made time to take his son to games.
“He would tell me, ‘I will show you how to love the game,’” Devers said.
The Red Sox first saw Rafael Jr. when he was 14, and they courted him and his father until Devers was eligible to sign at age 16. They got him for $1.5 million, beating out the Toronto Blue Jays and the Arizona Diamondbacks for his services.
Four years later, it’s Rafael Sr. who is the one riding high. Since his son was called up, he has lived with Rafael Jr. in Boston and travels with him to the ballpark every day when the Red Sox are home.
“I’m very excited that he’s here,” Rafael Jr. said. “It feels like I’m living his dream.”
Filling a void
Even during his slump, Rafael has impressed with his maturity, working on his defense and filling a void at the hot corner that the Red Sox have had since the Puerto Rican-born Mike Lowell retired after the 2010 season. Believe it or not, Boston has used more than 35 players at the position the last seven years.
While Devers has eight errors to date, you can’t teach his instincts.
In late August against Toronto, with the bases loaded and the Red Sox down by one, Devers fielded a ground ball 20 feet behind third base. When he saw that he didn’t have a double play, he began throwing to first base, realizing almost immediately that he didn’t have a play there either. Devers simply adjusted in mid-fly and threw out the runner at the plate by an inch. The Red Sox came back to win, 6-5, ending a four-game losing streak.
“Rafy has shown a lot of patience, a lot of emotional control,” Red Sox manager John Farrell told the Boston Herald. “He’s playing with some maturity that you might not have anticipated coming here.”
Devers may have acquired that maturity two years ago, when he became the father of a baby girl, Reichel Marie.
“When Reichel Marie born, my life changed. I became a mature man, because now I know that somebody else depends on me. Nobody wants his children to suffer and that’s why I work hard, build her a solid future,” he said.
Before every game, Rafael’s routine includes calling his daughter. If he cannot contact her, he will call after the game.
“There’s no day that I do not talk with her. Even despite the distance, because she is in the Dominican Republic, I want her to feel that her father is with her. That’s the life of a baseball player,” Devers said.
Featured Image: Billie Weiss / Getty Images Sport