Rafael Devers quickly is becoming one of the league’s top third basemen.
At just 23-years-old, the Boston Red Sox third baseman has displayed elite offensive ability, and over the 2019 season his defense came around quite a bit. In due course, he could be in the conversation with the Alex Bregman’s and Anthony Rendon’s of Major League Baseball as one of the best options at the hot corner.
Former big league executive Jim Bowden, writing for the Athletic, assembled a list of the top 10 third basemen in the league. Devers was picked eighth.
Here’s his list.
1. Alex Bregman
2. Nolan Arenado
3. Anthony Rendon
4. Manny Machado
5. Matt Chapman
6. Josh Donaldson
7. Chris Bryant
8. Rafael Devers
9. Yoan Moncada
10. Eugenio Suarez
“Devers is well-rounded as a hitter; he can hit lefties, righties, fastballs, breaking balls and changeups,” Bowden wrote of Devers. “He has tremendous plate coverage and awareness as well. Defensively, he made 22 errors at third base with -10 defensive runs saved with a UZR of 2.7. He continues to work hard on his defense and the improvement is steady and should continue to trend in an upward direction.”
At this point, that’s probably a fair ranking for Devers, though you could argue he probably could be as high as sixth.
Regardless, he’s got plenty of time ton continue blossoming, which bodes well for he and the Red Sox.
