RAFAEL DEVERS
Third Basemen
Boston Red Sox
Heritage: Dominican
By: Frank Morris Lopez
Awards & Recognitions:
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2× All-Star (2021, 2022)
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World Series champion (2018)
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All-MLB Second Team (2021)
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Silver Slugger Award (2021)
He’s the face — or perhaps we should say “baby face” — of the Boston Red Sox.
Known for always smiling and having earned the nickname of “carita,” Rafael Devers is the most recognizable player on the team, and arguably the most influential Latino baseball player in Boston - a city with a rich history of Latino ball players - since David Ortiz.
A World Series champion (2018) and two-time All-Star (2021 and ‘22), Devers was also the recipient of the Silver Slugger Award in 2018 and voted All-MLB Second Team in 2018.
He signed with the Red Sox as a 16-year-old free agent in 2013, and went on to make his MLB debut four years later.
In Game 5 of the 2018 American League Championship Series (ALCS), Devers hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the sixth inning, helping to send the Red Sox to the World Series.
Then in Game 4 of the World Series, Devers became the youngest player with a go-ahead RBI in the 9th inning or later of a World Series game since 1997. He helped the Red Sox win the World Series in five games over the Los Angeles Dodgers, giving him his first championship.
After the Red Sox missed the playoffs this year, how long will the lefty-hitting Dominican remain with the team? The organization maintains it would like to get a contract extension with Devers, who is set to enter his final year of arbitration in 2023.
Baseball Hall of Famer Big Papi has been vocal in his desire to keep Devers with the team long-term, calling him “one of the top three pure hitters in the game right now.” In 2019, Devers joined exclusive company with 30 homeruns and 50 doubles — just one of two third-basemen and one of three Red Sox players to ever do so.
When it comes to playing third base, “it’s the only position that I know; it’s the only position I feel comfortable playing,” Devers said in an interview earlier this year. “I work hard to be the best third baseman I can be every single day for this team. That’s really what I’m trying to do.”
So, how does it feel to be Rafael Devers? “Great, great, great,” he told NESN. “They pay me good, I play baseball, and I hit homers.”
And that he does.
