The Boston Red Sox have been scuffling since the Major League Baseball All-Star break.
Boston has gone 5-6 since the break and is averaging 3.5 runs per game in the span, but help is on the way.
Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski announced that the Red Sox will call up top third base prospect Rafael Devers following Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.
Devers will join the team Monday in Seattle before the team’s three-game series with the Seattle Mariners.
“On the field first of all, which he’s handled it very well,” Dombrowski said, as seen on NESN’s Red Sox postgame coverage. “Secondly, from a mental perspective, and our people just continue to say that he continues to handle the challenges that are given to him. Our biggest concern with him has been that if we brought him, and he struggles like a lot of guys do, how would he handle it? Our people feel that he would handle it well at this point, they say that he’s ready to tackle that next step.”
Boston is looking for production at the hot corner, as third base has been the least productive position for the Red Sox’s offense this season. The Sox have used seven different players at third base, and those players have hit .227/.280/.320 with seven home runs and 40 RBI this season for Boston.
Devers, on the other hand, has been tearing the cover off the baseball during the 2017 season. The 20-year-old phenom has hit .311/.377/.578 with 20 home runs and 60 RBI in his time with Double-A Portland and Triple-A Pawtucket.
The Red Sox top prospect was promoted to Triple-A on July 14 amid a torrid stretch for Double-A Portland, and he didn’t cool off in his nine games for the PawSox as he hit .400 with two homers and four RBI in his short stint in the International League.
Boston will plan on hitting Devers in the bottom third in the order, most likely eighth, in order to avoid putting too much pressure on the rookie. He will make his debut Tuesday night during the second game of the series with the Mariners.
While Devers has struggled a bit with the glove (four errors in nine games at Triple-A), his offensive potential is too great for the Red Sox to leave in the minor leagues while they try to fend off the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East.
“He’s made some errors, young errors,” Dombrowski said. “He has the hands, he has the arm, he’s also made some good plays, too. But most of them are really more from a timing perspective, and I guess if you had your ideal scenario, you’d say ‘we’ll let him just continue to go out and play third base and continue to play there,’ but it’s a situation, we’re in need here and we think he’s ready.”
Here are more notes from Red Sox vs. Angels:
— Rick Porcello had some nice things to say about the Red Sox newest third baseman.
— Porcello now has given up 23 home runs this season. He gave up 23 all of last season when he won the American League Cy Young Award.
Thumbnail photo via Jonathan Dyer/USA TODAY Sports Images
