If I had a nickel for every time I’ve said, “Rafael Devers is having a hell of a game” this month, well, I still wouldn’t have enough money to do anything because it’s not 1940, but I’d have a lot of nickels. Since coming up, he’s batting .339 over 17 games with 5 HR and 13 RBIs. The kid is impressive.
The milestones Devers is reaching are made even more impressive by the fact that he’s both the youngest player in the entire league and the timeline; he’s only been playing in the Majors for three weeks. Keep those two things in mind as I recap last night’s game.
Last night, Devers began his domination in the first, driving in Benintendi to put the Sox on the board 1-0 in the first. He then turned a rare 5-4-3 triple play – the first for the Red Sox since August 2011 – in the fourth to preserve Boston’s lead before contributing to the eight-hit 5th inning.
Then there’s the fact that this weekend he became only the second lefty ever to hit a homer off of Aroldis Chapman. Devers’ second homer of the game was also the first homer Chapman gave up this season. To make the story even crazier, the pitch itself was 102.8 mph, the fastest pitch to homer on since the MLB began tracking pitch velocity in 2008. And we won 3-2. Devers can hit, he can field, and he’s not too slow to round the bases. And in sports years, he’s an infant with a loooong career ahead of him. Think Tony C before that horrible accident.
Do you feel it? That’s the motions of the entire MLB collectively quaking in their boots. And it’s all because of Baby D.
