Red Sox place third baseman Rafael Devers on the 10-day disabled list
By Sean Penney
The Boston Red Sox have placed third baseman Rafael Devers on the 10-day disabled list with left shoulder inflammation and called up Tzu-Wei Lin.
The Boston Red Sox will be without Rafael Devers through the All-Star break. The team announced on Thursday that Devers has been placed on the 10-day disabled list with left shoulder inflammation.
Devers sat out Wednesday’s win against the Texas Rangers, allowing for his DL stint to be backdated to July 11. He’ll be eligible to return on July 21 against the Detroit Tigers. The All-Star break comes at an opportune time, as it allows for Devers to miss only five more games.
The #RedSox today placed 3B Rafael Devers on the 10-day disabled list with left shoulder inflammation, retroactive to July 11. To fill Devers’ spot on the 25-man roster, the club recalled INF Tzu-Wei Lin from Triple-A Pawtucket.
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 12, 2018
The injury initially occurred on July 4 when Devers slid awkwardly into home plate on a sac fly. He attempted to play through the discomfort but has gone a mere 2-for-14 with no extra-base hits since.
The team doesn’t seem overly concerned about the injury considering they let him play through it for about a week. Devers may simply be a bit banged up and the Red Sox are taking advantage of the schedule to give the 21-year old an extended break. Keep in mind that this is his first full season in the big leagues. He played in 144 games split between Double-A Portland, Triple-A Pawtucket, and Boston last year. Devers has played in 89 of 94 games for the Red Sox this season, putting him on pace to smash last year’s workload.
Devers is hitting .241 with a .715 OPS, 14 home runs and 48 RBI this season. His production has ebbed and flowed as one would expect from a young player his age. He’s currently in a bit of a slump, hitting .138 with a .437 OPS in eight games this month. The injury partially explains those results but the kid could use a break.
Another chance for Lin
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The Red Sox have called up infielder Tzu-Wei Lin to take the roster spot vacated by Devers. Lin’s brief stints in the majors haven’t amounted to much this year. He’s hitting .162/.244/.216 over 41 plate appearances.
However, he’s been tearing it up in Pawtucket lately. Lin is hitting .308/.360/.459 with 13 doubles and five home runs in 46 games for the PawSox. He’s a versatile defender who brings a solid glove to three infield positions.
Lin may see time at third base while Devers is sidelined. Some combination of Lin, Eduardo Nunez, and Brock Holt will primarily be used to cover second and third. There are no Gold Glove candidates in that mix but each should be considered an upgrade defensively at the hot corner. Devers leads major league third basemen with 19 errors. While the lineup loses a bit of pop without Devers, the silver lining is that the infield defense should improve.
The time off should be good for Devers. An opportunity to recharge his batteries and prepare for a strong second half.