The 2025 MLB season is only a few games old, but it has not been kind to slugging Boston Red Sox DH Rafael Devers.
Devers is coming off a strangely controversial spring training in which he seemed to publicly go back and forth with manager Alex Cora about whether or not he'd play third base. Ahead of Opening Day Cora declared officially that Devers would be the team's full-time designated hitter going forward. Whether it's the change or the weird vibes surrounding it, Devers has struggled mightily to adjust. To a historic degree, as a matter of fact.
In the first three games of the Red Sox's season, Devers has had 12 at-bats. He has recorded zero hits in those at-bats. Worse, he's struck out 10 times. And with his 10th strikeout on Saturday in Boston's loss to the Texas Rangers, Devers became the first player in MLB history to strike out 10 times in the first three games of the year, per ESPN.
Baseball players go through slumps all the time. This isn't to say the Red Sox should start ringing alarm bells. But as far as slumps go, this one is bad. Devers can't even get wood on the ball right now, a shocking sight given he had 28 home runs and knocked in 83 RBI in 2024.
Not exactly what the Red Sox are looking for from their $300 milion hitter, that's for sure.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Rafael Devers Makes Unfortunate MLB History With Brutal Start to Red Sox Season .