Giants GM Defends Rafael Devers Amid Ex-Red Sox’s Slow Start

The Boston Red Sox and former franchise cornerstone Rafael Devers have each gone in very different directions since the shocking June 15 trade that sent the three-time All-Star to the San Francisco Giants.

While the Red Sox rode a 10-game winning streak into the All-Star break, the same cannot be said of Devers, who has largely struggled since making his highly anticipated Giants debut last month.

To make matters worse, Devers went through a 0-14 slump with six strikeouts in his last five games leading into the All-Star break. In 89 at-bats with the Giants, he’s batting a paltry .202 with 18 hits, two home runs, and 10 RBIs. Those numbers have understandably caused concern in the Bay Area, with Devers not living up to his reputation as one of Major League Baseball’s superstar sluggers.

During a recent appearance on San Francisco sports radio station KNBR, former Giants’ catcher and current president of baseball operations Buster Posey was asked about what could be causing Devers’ struggles since being traded to the team last month.

“It’s an adjustment period,” said Posey. ‘This guy’s been in one organization his entire life, and now to come over, everything’s different. Not just the ballpark and teammates, but where you’re living. So it’s an adjustment period.”

With plenty of negative press surrounding Devers due to his prolonged slump and recently blowing off Giants legend Will Clark for a planned on-field training session, Posey did his best to highlight a few promising signs from Devers’ recent at-bats with a confident prediction of a major turnaround soon to follow.

“Those two at-bats you mentioned, I thought were both really good,” said Posey. “The sac fly was hanging in there on a breaking ball. And then the ball (he hit) to center field was absolutely blistered. So, yeah, Raffy Devers has been in the big leagues for eight or nine years now. And a guy like that, you know it’s just a matter of time before he gets going.”