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PHOENIX – Rafael Devers still is waiting to exhale. His whirlwind introduction to the Giants has given him little time to step back and absorb the monumental changes in his life.
It has been just two weeks and two days since Devers arrived as the marquee name in Buster Posey’s 4-for-1 trade, but it seems longer if only because the transition from the Red Sox to Giants, American League to National League, and East Coast to West Coast hasn’t been as smooth as everyone expected.
It’s one thing to move nearly 3,000 miles away, suit up in a different uniform, learn new teammates, coaches and a manager and adjust to foreign surroundings. It’s another to deal with physical ailments while hitting .203 (12-for-59) in 15 games on a team that has gone 5-10.
But the three-time All-Star said he’s doing his best to make a positive adjustment and swears he’ll bounce back soon enough and return to the level that made him a dynamic and productive player for such a long stretch in Boston.
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“I’m feeling very comfortable right now,” Devers said Wednesday in an interview with The Standard. “Things aren’t going the way I want for me or the team, but I know eventually I’m going to get out of it and the team is going to get out of it.”
Devers knows the optics aren’t good, and he’d be the first to say he’s not performing up to par. He hit .272 with a .902 OPS in Boston but isn’t close to that as a Giant, and he’s striking out way too much — 25 K’s in 59 at-bats and 16 in his last 24 at-bats. To top it off, he’s playing with groin and back issues.
It was not the start the designated hitter had envisioned, though it was a good sign Wednesday night when Devers smoked an RBI single that came off the bat at a sizzling 106.6 mph, giving the Giants a 3-0 lead over Arizona in a game they won 6-5 in 10 innings.
In the interview, conducted pregame at his Chase Field locker with Spanish language interpreter Erwin Higueros translating, Devers admitted the physical ailments have affected him at the plate and on the bases, but he’s not asking out of the lineup and has appeared in all 15 games since the trade.
“Yes,” Devers said, “it does affect me a little bit when I hit, but that’s not an excuse. I know that I can make the adjustments.”
Tuesday, Devers roped a double down the right-field line and tried scoring on Wilmer Flores’ single to center, but it was clear he wasn’t running at his normal speed; he was thrown out at the plate.
“I know I’m giving my 100 percent,” Devers said. “If I’m 100 percent healthy, I know that I would have scored. But I’m giving all my effort to score runs and get a win.”
The strikeouts are another issue, and it seems he’s in a similar swing-and-miss funk as he was at the season’s outset. He opened 0-for-19 with a whopping 15 strikeouts with Boston only to find his groove the next nine games by hitting .429 with a mere five K’s in 35 at-bats.
“No, it doesn’t bother me,” Devers said. “It happens to all the hitters. I know I’m trying to make my adjustments. I know that I’m trying to contribute to the team, trying to get my hits and also contribute to wins.”
The book on Devers is that he doesn’t always catch up with elevated fastballs, so teams have heaved a steady diet of high, hard ones. The good news for Devers is that the pitch he walloped Wednesday was a fastball high in the zone.
“It’s something I’ve gone through throughout my career,” Devers said. “I know they’ve thrown me high fastballs, and I’ve had that issue. Again, I will make my adjustments.”
Devers resonates extreme confidence in his abilities and intentions to get back to becoming a productive hitter. In his nine big-league seasons, he has overcome enough injuries and slumps to know that he can bypass this current slide and do what Posey acquired him to do, which is help the Giants win a lot of games.
Let it be known that July is historically his best month. In his career, he has a .322 average with a .383 on-base percentage and 1.006 OPS.
As for his defense, Devers continues to work out at first base, his future home even though it’s a position he never played in pro ball. A third baseman by trade, Devers was turned into a DH this season but is fully willing to embrace the new position. Giants fans might see him at first as early as next week’s homestand.
“I’m very close,” Devers said. “I feel very comfortable every time I go out there, and I know the minute that I’m healthy, I’m going to be at first.”
While Posey said this week that third base is “on the table” for Devers, now that Matt Chapman, Casey Schmitt, and Christian Koss all are on the injured list, Devers is focused only on first base and isn’t contemplating returning to his old position.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “We have one of the best third basemen in the game, and I know the day he comes back, that’s his position.”
Meantime, Devers — who’s known as Rafi around the clubhouse; by the way, he prefers “Rafi” over “Raffy” — is fitting in more and more each day. He has palled around with Willy Adames and Flores and “is trying to get used to everybody. That’s the name of the game, making friends.”
Devers also is building a relationship with manager Bob Melvin, whose contract option for 2026 was exercised Tuesday, calling it “a work in progress. I’m aware that it’s not a trust that you’re going to gain overnight. Over time, we’re going to get more comfortable. At the same time, I’m aware that he’s a great person, and he has given me the trust to walk in his office and talk with him and be able to express myself.”
In his first games at Oracle Park, fans gave him repeated standing ovations as he came to the plate, a warm welcome at his new home, and he’s hoping to give them many more reasons to cheer. After Thursday’s series finale and three games in Sacramento, the Giants host the Phillies and Dodgers next week in advance of the All-Star break.
“It caught me by surprise,” Devers said of the ovations. “It’s a great first impression that I got and so good to be received like that by the San Francisco fans.”
Mike Yastrzemski homered to open Wednesday’s game, and Jung Hoo Lee collected three hits (a homer shy of the cycle), but Camilo Doval blew a 5-3 lead in the ninth. Patrick Bailey’s sacrifice fly in the 10th was the difference, and Doval pitched again in the home half to secure a win to accompany his blown save.