'Alarming' Rafael Devers stat is shaky news for Giants, reassuring for Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox stunned the baseball world last season when they traded designated hitter/first baseman Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants. 

Devers, a three-time All-Star, became Boston's best slugger over the course of his eight and a half seasons with the AL East club. He led the American League with 54 doubles in 2019 and finished his Red Sox career with an .859 OPS in 1,053 games. 

The relationship between the Devers and the Red Sox soured last offseason when Alex Bregman was brought in to play third base. Devers rejected the idea of moving to first base last May, and the Giants acquired the two-time Silver Slugger the following month. 

Devers remains one of baseball's most dangerous hitters with a bat in hand, but he's off to a suspiciously slow start for San Francisco in 2026. FanSided's Wynston Wilcox noted a key reason for his struggles. 

Devers is swinging at pitches out of the zone 

"One of Devers’ most alarming stats this season is his zone contact rate. According to FanGraphs, about 52 percent of the pitches Devers is seeing are inside the strike zone. Yet, he’s only making contact on 57.9 percent of them," Wilcox wrote Monday.

"The contrast to that? He’s making contact with 77.8 percent of the pitches outside the zone. Essentially, he’s taking a lot of bad swings. He could probably get away with that if he were a field player. But his only job is to hit the ball, and he’s not swinging it particularly well." 

Because of Devers' struggles at the plate, Red Sox fans and the front office, specifically president of baseball operations Craig Breslow, may feel vindicated. However, the season is just three games old, and it's only a matter of time before the left-handed hitter turns a corner in the batter's box. 

"One of his strengths through this slump is he’s still making contact with pitches outside the zone. But the fact that he’s been struck out (four) more times than he’s gotten a hit (three), that’s proof he needs better plate discipline," Wilcox added. "It’s the one thing the Red Sox can be happy about, it’s not their problem anymore." 

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