It was a rough weekend in Texas for the Red Sox's franchise player. In Boston's first four games against the Texas Rangers, Rafael Devers failed to record even a single hit, going 0-for-16 with a whopping 12 strikeouts. He managed just two walks, one of which came with the bases loaded for his only RBI of the year.
With his third strikeout on Saturday, Devers became the first player in MLB history to strike out 10 times in the first three games of the season. Not exactly the history you want to make.
This performance comes on the heels of the Red Sox announcing that Devers would be moving from third base to DH for the 2025 season in order to make room for the newly acquired Alex Bregman. Devers himself resisted the change, saying once when asked if he would change positions that "third base is my position. It's what I play." There was some speculation that his limited workload in spring training had to do with his frustration over the possibility of his position being taken away.
Rafael Devers has had a tough start to the season for Boston:
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 30, 2025
0/16 | 12 K | 2 BB | 1 RBI pic.twitter.com/ksvjG3lg91
Red Sox have early Rafael Devers problem after performance vs Rangers
It's possible that Devers' poor start to 2025 is due to some lingering hostility about changing positions. Although, Alex Cora assured the media with his comments last week: "We are all in the winning business, and [Devers] understands that" when announcing the position change. There's no doubt that it's a big change for Devers to make. Every player likes consistency, so even a change on the defensive side can impact your bat. And talk about the perceived disrespect. The Red Sox brought in a player who might only be here for one year, and told their franchise star to step aside.
Devers, however, has no choice but to adjust. Putting Bregman at third does make sense when you take into account Devers' subpar defense, but fans are certainly going to question the move if it drastically affects the star slugger's offense to this degree.
Luckily, there are still 158 games to go. It'd be easy to overreact and write the season off, but it's so early and baseball is all about ups and downs. Devers has plenty of time to figure things out in 2025, but if this persists then fans know where they can direct the blame given we have an offseason of drama to refer to when all is said and done.