Rafael Devers continued to struggle on Monday with strikeouts. In the Boston Red Sox’s 8-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, the designated hitter went 0-for-3 at the plate with two walks and three strikeouts.
After five games, Devers has yet to record a hit in 19 at-bats and has struck out 15 times.
According to Baseball Reference, Devers set an MLB record by becoming the first player since 1901 to start a season without a hit and with at least 15 strikeouts in his team’s first five games.
This hitting slump for Devers extends from the end of the 2024 season where he went 1-for-15 with 11 strikeouts in his final four games. Despite finishing the season with a .272 batting average, 28 home runs, and 83 RBI, he also struck out a career-high 147 times.
Devers, 28, made headlines during spring training by expressing his reluctance to give up playing third base for Alex Bregman, a Gold Glove winner who joined the Red Sox in the offseason. Devers has been rated as one of the worst third basemen in baseball by various advanced metrics, including outs above average (OAA) and fielding run value (FRV).
Ultimately, Devers was assigned the designated hitter role instead of playing third base, where he has primarily played in his 956 MLB games.
The slow start to the season has drawn criticism, with former Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon questioning Devers’ conditioning.
“Maybe [Rafael Devers] is out of shape,” Papelbon remarked. “Maybe we gotta trim a little bit of fat… Know what happens when you trim fat? Pigs squeal… You trim fat, pigs squeal. That’s what you’re looking for- your pigs to squeal. They hit home runs.”
Papelbon’s reference to “pigs squealing” is his way of saying that the bats will make noise.
The Red Sox have a day off on Tuesday before continuing their series against the Orioles on Wednesday. Perhaps Devers can make use of the break to turn things around and break out of this slump.