SI

SI:AM | Rafael Devers Put on a Show on ‘Sunday Night Baseball’

He proved why he was a no-brainer choice for the All-Star Game.

Dan Gartland

Devers is having a career year at the plate.
Devers is having a career year at the plate. / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I still can’t believe this throw by a fan in the Yankee Stadium bleachers.

In today’s SI:AM:

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⛳ A unique summer sports tradition
💵 Jayson Tatum’s new project

This was his All-Star moment

Boston Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers was named to the American League All-Star team on Sunday for the third time in his career. Then he went out and showed exactly why he deserved a spot on the squad.

Devers was on fire during this weekend’s series against the New York Yankees, going 2-for-4 with a homer in Saturday’s game (a 14–4 Yankees win). And he was even better in the finale on Sunday Night Baseball, which Boston won, 3–0, going 3-for-4 with two homers and making a clutch play on defense late in the game.

Both starting pitchers—Luis Gil for New York and Kutter Crawford for Boston—were in total control early in the game. With two outs in the top of the seventh, the game was still scoreless. That’s when Devers put his stamp on the game with a solo homer to break the tie. He took a 99 mph fastball from Gil and sliced it the other way. It barely cleared the fence in left, traveling an estimated 373 feet.

It might look like Devers got lucky with that one, but make no mistake: Even though it was a wall-scraper, it was no cheapie. He really put a charge into it. The exit velocity on the homer was 103.8 mph, which allowed the ball to clear the fence even though it had a 37-degree launch angle.

And Devers didn’t just impress with his bat. In the eighth inning, he made a slick defensive play on a weak grounder by D.J. LeMahieu for the final out of the inning. Had he not made the play, the Yankees would have had two runners on base with the top of the order coming up in a two-run game.

Devers’s best play of the night, though, came in the top of the ninth when he hit his second homer. It was a no-doubt, 423-foot shot that left the bat at 107 mph and sailed into the Yankees’ bullpen. What made Devers’s bomb really impressive, though, is that the pitch from Michael Tonkin was thrown well out of the zone, high and outside, and yet Devers still managed to somehow pull the ball to deep right-center.

That’s just an absurd piece of hitting. How many other hitters could take a pitch that’s tailing away from them that far out of the zone and get around on it quickly enough to pull it? Hardly any.

Devers is only 27 but has already accomplished plenty in his eight years in the majors. He won a World Series in his first full season with Boston in 2018, has won two Silver Sluggers and received MVP votes in four different seasons. But this has been the best season of his career. His on-base percentage (.378) and slugging percentage (.593) are both the highest of his career. He has 21 homers a little more than halfway through the season, which puts him on pace for 38 for the year. That would tie a career high. He currently ranks sixth in the majors in both offensive WAR (3.7) and OPS (.971).

Devers made headlines this winter when he openly criticized Red Sox management for the team’s conservative offseason, saying his bosses “​​need to make an adjustment to help us players to be in a better position to win.” Boston is 49–40, good enough for the third and final wild-card spot in the AL. That’s mostly thanks to Devers, who has been the team’s best hitter by a sizable margin. But if the Red Sox are going to truly become contenders in the AL, they’ll have to listen to their star player and add some reinforcements. Otherwise Devers’s excellent season will go to waste.

Jul 7, 2024; London,United Kingdom; Emma Navarro upset Coco Gauff at Wimbledon on Sunday.
Emma Navarro (left) upset Coco Gauff at Wimbledon on Sunday. / Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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