Red Sox News: Rafael Devers won’t require surgery during the offseason

Red Sox star Rafael Devers won’t need surgery this winter

That noise you just heard, it was a massive sigh of relief coming from Red Sox Nation as it was made known that Rafael Devers won’t need surgery this winter. That is huge news not just for the young third baseman but for the organization as a whole. Knowing they won’t be without the dynamo for any amount of time due to a procedure allows Chaim Bloom to have one less worry this offseason.

The Red Sox spent plenty of time talking to the media today with a laundry list of topics being covered. Bloom spoke on many of the things that face the Red Sox going forward and team health was one of them. Considering we’ve been watching Devers damn near scream in pain with every swing and miss for the last month or so, it’s massive that there wasn’t any long-term damage.

“We did some imaging during (the postseason), and nothing concerning was found,” Bloom said. “Kudos to our medical staff and to Raffy for how they managed it and playing through it. Something that rest should do a lot to help.”

Big Scoops had the second-best full season of his career where he slashed .279/.352/.538/.890 with 38 homers (new career-high) and 113 RBI.  Even with the injured elbow that put Raffy in an incredible amount of pain during the postseason, Boston’s third baseman didn’t slow down whatsoever. He came through time and time again as the regular season began to wind down and the calendar flipped to the postseason.

We heard a few times that he would feel the most pain when he’d swing and miss while contact wouldn’t hurt him as much. This forced Raffy to become more selective down the final stretch of 2021 and thus increased his ability to be far more dangerous at the plate. Just think about that. He’s already a damn assassin in the batter’s box and this injury turned him into John Wick.

For as good as he was in the regular season he did the most damage in the postseason, something that should come as no surprise considering his October history. While Raffy was basically a baby during his first crack at the postseason in 2017, he was a young adult in 2018 and now he’s all grown up and putting the hurt on the opposition.

Not only did he pretty much shoot to the top of every Red Sox postseason record but he also joined some of the game’s greatest names with what he did this October. When you’re on the same level as guys like Mickey Mantle, Albert Pujols, and Carlos Correa, you’re doing something right.

The fact he literally just turned 25-years-old yesterday should only make Boston baseball fans water at the mouth. Don’t be shocked if an extension is in his future this winter. It was also announced earlier today that he and Xander Bogaerts were both Silver Slugger finalists. Just another notch in the belt of the best tag team in MLB.

“We did our best to get a handle on it while it was going on,” Bloom said.

At the end of the day, it was a fantastic job by the Red Sox training staff, coaches, and Raffy himself for being able to get him to this level. If the injury had been mismanaged at any point in the process we could be talking about a much different outcome today. Thankfully, we should be seeing a fully rested and healthy Rafael Devers in Fort Myers this spring ready to continue his astronomical rise to the top of the baseball world.