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Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Legendary Red Sox DH David Ortiz weighs in on whether Rafael Devers should be open to moving to first base
Ortiz marveled that Devers so quickly has learned to achieve the mentality and routines to excel in a DH-only role, with the 28-year-old entering Monday with a .286 average, .408 OBP, .515 slugging mark, 12 home runs, and an MLB-leading 52 RBIs. Advertisement 'He's having a hell of a season,' Ortiz said. 'I wasn't concerned about Raffy's hitting. I was more concerned about [him adapting to] the role of a DH. People think DH-ing is the easiest thing to do. If you're not hitting, you ain't doing anything. That's how you feel … And he has come through. He's doing excellent, and hopefully it continues.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up But with Devers thriving in a DH-only role, Ortiz recognizes the delicacy of another potential position change, and the question of whether Devers (with Bregman likely out for months and first baseman Triston Casas out for the year) Ortiz said he hasn't talked to Devers about the situation but remains aware of it. Advertisement 'I'm just watching, just to see how everything's going to end up,' said Ortiz. 'But I'm enjoying watching him just smoking the pitchers.' Ortiz straddled the line on how the Red Sox should proceed with Devers. On one hand, he sees reason for caution given that Devers is hitting as well as any point in his career. 'He's killing it right now [as a DH],' Ortiz told reporters at Brae Burn Country Club in Newton, where he was hosting a fund-raiser for the David Ortiz Children's Fund. 'You don't want to mess that up.' That said, Ortiz also noted that if he'd been in a similar situation, he would have volunteered to play first. '[After] Casas went down, if I was him, I would have put myself available for anything, but that was me,' Ortiz said. '[Devers] was a third baseman that was asked to be a DH. Now, all of a sudden you want him to play first base, I guess. You have to give him some time for him to learn if you want him to, because he's doing great as a DH. 'He needs to know that he's an important piece for this organization. He's doing what he was asked [in spring training, when the organization asked him to DH]. But yeah, I think he should just think about what would be better for the organization, him at first or him as the DH, and go from there. But we have to give him some time.' With that time, Ortiz believes Devers will come to the conclusion that he can and should start working at first base for the good of the team. Ortiz expressed sympathy for Devers as he's been bounced between job descriptions, yet suggested that the well-being of the team should be the ultimate guide. Advertisement 'At some point, you're going to mature and you're going to understand that when it comes down to being part of a club, you've got to be all-in,' Ortiz said in a separate interview on NESN's '310 to Left' podcast. 'I think he can be a hell of a first baseman, in my mind … Hopefully he understands that at some point, him being a first baseman and having some of the guys DH might be a hell of an idea and make us a better team. 'I don't know if he's working at first base right now. I think he should practice there. If he sees the team needs him or the team is better with him at first base, just go for it. He's the face of this franchise right now.' The subject hovers over a struggling team (with manager Alex Cora and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow saying last week that conversations remain ongoing with Devers, who is signed to the biggest contract in franchise history), and with it, Devers has become something of a lightning rod. Though Ortiz believes that Devers should be open to contributing at first — something that could open the door for Masataka Yoshida to return as DH or for other position players to be rotated in a way that might create a path for a call-up of Roman Anthony — he also believes that Devers shouldn't be seen as the source of the team's struggles. 'Everybody wants to focus on Devers. Devers is doing what he's supposed to,' said Ortiz. 'The rest of the team needs to collaborate with us. We need more Devers on the team, basically.' Advertisement Alex Speier can be reached at
Boston Globe
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Would it be hard for Rafael Devers to learn to play first? Alex Cora and Kevin Youkilis say yes, Mike Lowell says no
Red Sox manager Alex Cora forged a 14-year big league career primarily on the strength of his middle infield defense. He averaged one error every 69 innings at shortstop, and one every 105 innings at second base. But in 21 career big league innings at first base, he made three errors, and sounded scarred by the experience when recalling his first exposure at the position in the final three innings of a 14-0 Red Sox loss to the Braves in 2007. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'It's very hard. I can tell you by experience,' said Cora. 'I played [21] innings [at first] in my big league career, made three errors, and one of them was a ground ball with [a] man at first. I went all the way to the right. [Dustin] Pedroia was right there. I bobbled it, then I threw it away. It's just, it's hard. It's very hard.' Advertisement Kevin Youkilis broke into the big leagues as a third baseman in 2004, but got experience playing first and second in the minors while shuttling between Triple A and the big leagues in 2005. He then got a full spring training at first base entering the 2006 season, which he viewed as critical. Advertisement 'It's really hard. It's not as easy of a transition as people think. There's a lot of different scenarios that you have to go through and you have to get a lot of reps in order to get good at it,' said Youkilis. 'There's a learning curve.' Central to the transition, Youkilis noted, was the need to rethink when to pursue a grounder — whether to try to get it or cede it to a second baseman while racing to cover first. But there's also a need to learn a different body angle on throws to second, learn how infielders' throws move (tail or sail, for instance), how to handle more complicated cutoff and relay responsibilities, as well as the ability to handle pickoffs. Cora noted with some discomfort the big league crash courses undertaken in recent years by Franchy Cordero and Kyle Schwarber to learn first base. 'We've been through that act before, moving people around, playing guys at first base that had never played first base,' said Cora. 'It wasn't good.' But another former Red Sox saw the matter differently, noting that the increased time to make plays at first would cut down on errors that arise from rushing throws. 'Are there nuances at first base? Absolutely,' Mike Lowell, a Gold Glover at third in 2004 who moved to first for the final year of his career in 2010, said on the '310 to Left' podcast. 'There are things absolutely they need to learn at first base, but I don't think it's anything so complicated that [Devers] can't do it. I think he's totally capable of doing it.' Advertisement The timetable How long would it take a third baseman to become a capable first baseman? Lowell answered by holding up two fingers. Two years? Two months? Two weeks? 'Two days,' Lowell said. '[Devers] could do it in two days. I think he's good enough.' Lowell, who worked with Devers at third base in past spring trainings, clarified that it would take Devers longer than that to learn the full array of nuances. That said, he remains convinced that Devers could become competent enough to handle first in games in just two days. Youkilis — who won a Gold Glove at first in 2007, his second full season at the position — disagreed. 'I think Raffy can be a good first baseman, but it takes a lot of time and work to make that transition if you've never played there. It's not something that you can be just thrown in the mix,' said Youkilis. 'While I do think Raffy can make that change, I also understand it's really hard in-season to make that change.' Youkilis described the importance of a full spring training — infield and outfield drills, as well as repetitions in exhibition games — as critical. 'Spring training is the best time to make that transition, because you do make mistakes, and you want to make those mistakes, because that's how you learn,' he said. Could Devers do it? Not many third basemen have become elite at first. Since 1980, Youkilis, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Albert Pujols are the only players whose primary position was third base at the start of their big league careers who emerged as Gold Glove first basemen. Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. successfully made the transition from third base to first base. Chris O'Meara/Associated Press That said, if Devers and the Red Sox reach the conclusion that he will try playing first, the goal would be competence rather than a Gold Glove-caliber defender. Advertisement While they disagree on the time needed to get up to game speed, Lowell and Youkilis believe Devers can surpass that baseline standard. Indeed, there are reasons to think he could not only be functional but well suited to first base. 'If Raffy does make that transition, which a lot of people thought he was going to do anyways, ends up at first, I actually think he could be a plus defender,' said Lowell. 'The reason why I think he could be good, his hands are good. I think the main thing with Raffy for me when I look at him getting in trouble defensively is, I think it's his footwork, and I think his arm angle drops [on throws]. 'Can he be above average? Yeah. It's not going to take two days [to be above average]. I think it's going to be a little bit more. But that process, I think, is shorter than people think. There are things absolutely he'd need to learn at first base, but I don't think it's anything so complicated that he can't do. I think he's totally capable of doing it.' Alex Speier can be reached at
