Rafael Devers is having such a monstrous season that he even is surprising his teammates.
The Red Sox third baseman has clubbed 27 home runs and owns a league-leading 101 RBIs. Devers also is making history this year and always seems to be a threat at the plate and is doing things a rare group of other players did at age 22.
It’s certainly no shock that Devers earned American League Player of the Week honors for his performance last week, but it hasn’t always been this easy for the young infielder. And the way he’s performed of late has Xander Bogaerts in disbelief.
“The first couple games, I think it was first 30 games, I don’t think he had a homer or anything like that, and I would just keep reminding him, ‘Hey, all the hard work you did in the offseason, it will pay off in the end,'” the shortstop told WEEI’s “Dale and Keefe” on Tuesday as part of the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon. “Obviously, I didn’t think it would be like this. But I think we’ll all take that. But I did believe that all the work he did in the offseason would have paid out for him. … Man, it’s been a phenomenal season for him.”
We think all Red Sox fans will echo the “phenomenal season” comment.
If Devers can continue to improve his defense and not slow down at the plate, then he’ll be quite the fun player to watch for many years to come.
