Rafael Devers starting at first base for Giants

New York Times

2 days ago

Rafael Devers will start at first base for the Giants against the Braves on Tuesday night, which both starts a new chapter of his career and ends a strange saga of his season to date. After all that, yes, Devers will start at first base, which was the likeliest outcome all along. It just won't be for the first team that asked him to.
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The saga of Devers' season to date actually started last winter, when he was the Red Sox third baseman. That's what everybody knew him as, and the team both publicly and privately assured everyone that's what he was going to remain. Then they signed third baseman Alex Bregman without talking to Devers, initially saying that Bregman might play second. When reporters got to talk to Devers in the spring, he flatly asserted that he was a third baseman, not a first baseman or a designated hitter, and the drama and palace intrigue ramped up.
After Devers finally accepted the DH role, though, regular first baseman Triston Casas suffered a season-ending injury, opening up a need at the position. The Red Sox knew that if Devers could fill it, it would open up the DH slot for one of their extra outfielders, most likely Masataka Yoshida. It was a reasonable plan that was likely to improve the team's chances, but the communication wasn't ideal, and feathers were ruffled yet again.
It all ended with a stunning trade that sent Devers to the Giants, where he would play … first base, eventually. All they had to do was ask the right way. When a phalanx of reporters surrounded him in the Giants' dugout before a recent series against the Red Sox, he was repeatedly asked about when he was going to debut as the team's new first baseman. The response was the same: He'll play first when he's ready. In pregame chats with reporters, manager Bob Melvin lauded the work that Devers was putting in at the position, repeating that it was up to Devers when he'd start playing first base.
The move is notable for the backstory and drama, but it isn't exactly going to fix the Giants, who were swept out of the break and have lost six games in a row, including one that was so bad, it cost a starting pitcher his place on the roster. Still, there were always two likely paths for the second stage of Devers' career, with one of them as a DH and another one as a first baseman. That's not news from this season; that's been obvious for years, now. (And, as an aside, my personal opinion is that he looked pretty danged good at the position during his pregame drills. That has about as much predictive power as batting practice, but still.)
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Another wrinkle in the Giants' slide is that Devers has been one of their most visibly struggling hitters, with a .219/.333/.333 line since joining them. He's had just five hits in his last 30 at-bats, and his last home run was on June 26. There was some speculation that the Giants would worry about getting his bat fixed before worrying about a transition to first base, but they're apparently not worried about any spillover effects.