KANSAS CITY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – After meeting with Boston Red Sox principal owner John Henry, veteran slugger Rafael Devers remained at designated hitter for Friday night’s road game against the Kansas City Royals.
Devers, a three-time All-Star at third base, already lost that spot on the field when the Red Sox signed Alex Bregman to a three-year contract in February. The nine-year veteran was vocal this week about not wanting to take over at first base, at least not full time.
Devers met with Henry and manager Alex Cora before the game. Boston’s chief baseball officer, Craig Breslow, who joined team president Sam Kennedy and Henry on the trip to Kansas City, said Henry “seems to have had a productive conversation (with Devers), and that’s where it is at right now.”
Cora also called it “a good conversation,” although he said no decision was made about Devers’ position going forward.
Devers “expressed his feelings. John did the same. I think everybody saw who was here, so I think that carries weight in the clubhouse,” Cora said.
The first base vacancy arose when Triston Casas went down with a season-ending injury to his left knee on May 2. Casas had surgery on his left patella.
Devers said on Thursday that the Red Sox floated the idea of him moving to first shortly after Casas’ injury. He said the team “can’t expect me to play every single position out there.”
Devers, who has played exclusively at DH this season, started the season slowly at the plate, going 0-for-19 with 15 strikeouts before breaking into the hit column in his sixth game.
He has rebounded of late, hitting .365 in his last 13 games to raise his batting average to .253. He went 1-for-5 and drove in Boston’s only run in a 2-1 loss to the Royals in 12 innings on Friday.
Devers has a career batting average of .278. In his nine seasons in the majors, he has 206 home runs and 664 RBIs.