A day after just missing a home run against his former team, new San Francisco Giants slugger Rafael Devers went deep against the Boston Red Sox.
Here’s a look at his Saturday blast in the third inning to stake his new club to a 3-0 lead over his old club (BOS-SF GameTracker):
That’s an opposite-field shot off a 0-1 96-mph Brayan Bello fastball. That homer left Devers’ bat at 105.5 mph and traveled 370 feet. Per Statcast estimations, it would’ve been a home run in 25 of 30 MLB ballparks. It was Devers’ 16th home run of the season, and he’s now hitting .269/.395/.500 in this, his age-28 campaign.
The backdrop, of course, is the recent shocker of a blockbuster that sent Devers from the Red Sox to the Giants as part of a five-player deal that no one on the outside saw coming.
Rafael Devers trade: Winners and losers, including the present-day Giants, the future Red Sox and Gerrit Cole
Mike Axisa
The trade came after Devers and the Boston office butted heads over his role in the current season. The Red Sox signed Alex Bregman to a free-agent contract this past offseason, but they didn’t discuss the move ahead of time with Devers, whom the Red Sox asked to vacate his long-time position of third base in deference to Bregman. After some initial hard feelings, Devers agreed and became a full-time DH. Then, however, Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas suffered a season-ending knee injury, and the Red Sox asked Devers to switch roles yet again – this time going from DH to first base. Devers balked, and the relationship between club and player worsened.
For his part, Devers moved on, as he rebounded from a 0-for-21 start to the season to put up some of the strongest numbers of his career. Lead decision-maker Craig Breslow and the rest of Red Sox brass, however, seemingly did not get over it, as they recently agreed to send Devers and all of his remaining contract (roughly $250 million left on his extension through 2033) to the Giants for Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison, and a pair of prospects.
While the Red Sox talked about the trade reflecting certain core organizational values — which Devers, by implication, did not honor — Devers himself took the higher road during his introductory press conference with the Giants. Consider Saturday’s “revenge homer” to be the latest sign that he’s moved on and is focused on helping the contending Giants make the playoffs.