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New York Post
6 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Post
David Ortiz's message to Red Sox about Rafael Devers drama: ‘They asked for it'
Someone is finally on Rafael Devers' side after his refusal to play first base for the Red Sox. Boston legend David Ortiz has come to Devers' defense after a season-ending injury to first baseman Triston Casas had the team and fans expecting the designated hitter Devers to step in and fill the void. 'He's doing great as the DH. They asked for it, and he's doing great as the DH,' Ortiz told The Associated Press on Monday. 'Once [the] Casas situation goes down … In people's minds, it was: 'Devers goes to first and [Masataka] Yoshida goes to DH and we are a better team'. Yeah, that's what you put in your mind. But guess what? The kid was asked in spring training to just hit and now all of a sudden you want to switch him over. It takes time.' 3 David Ortiz spent 14 seasons with the Red Sox and won the World Series MVP in 2013. Getty Images Devers is in his ninth season with the Red Sox and signed a gargantuan 11-year, $331 million extension in early 2023. He played third base for much of his career but was asked to focus on hitting at the DH position after the team signed infielder Alex Bregman this offseason, stirring up some preseason melodrama. Ortiz spent 14 of his 20 MLB seasons with the Red Sox, won three World Series and made a Hall of Fame career playing DH while also playing first base over the years. 3 Rafael Devers did not want to play first base when asked to by his team. Dale Zanine-Imagn Images When Casas went down, many expected Devers to shift to a similar role, but the DH responded, 'They can't expect me to play every single position out there. In spring training, they talked to me and basically told me to put away my glove … I don't think it would be an appropriate decision by them to ask me to play another position.' Focusing on hitting has certainly been working for Devers this season as he's batting .286 with 12 homers and an MLB-leading 52 RBIs. 'We asked him to be the DH. Fully asked him to be the DH,' Ortiz said. 'I remember that conversation in spring training … He's giving you what you asked for.' 3 Rafael Devers leads MLB in RBIs this season. Dale Zanine-Imagn Images While 'Big Papi' recognizes that some flexibility could open things up a bit more for the team, he thinks it's ultimately up to no one but Devers. 'I will say this: At one point, if Devers would like to practice at first base, and would like to go back to playing the whole defense thing, that is all on him,' Ortiz said.
Boston Globe
7 hours 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
Fox Sports
12 hours ago
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Last Night in Baseball: Big Dumper is now your MLB home run leader
There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to handle themselves. That's why we're here to help, though, by sifting through the previous days' games, and figuring out what you missed, but shouldn't have. Here are all the best moments from the weekend in Major League Baseball: Raleigh hits MLB-leading homer No. 23 Cal Raleigh maybe wasn't a household name before 2025, but he is doing everything he can to change that as quickly as possible. The Mariners' catcher has been good for some time, sure, and Seattle fans certainly appreciated his bat, but the 2025 season has been something else for the player affectionately referred to as Big Dumper. Raleigh, who hit 101 homers from 2022 through 2024, is now leading the majors in dingers with 23 after a solo shot against Twins' starter Chris Paddack gave Seattle a 1-0 lead in the seventh. Paddack had been marvelous to that point, and would finish with eight innings of one-run ball, 10 strikeouts, and five total baserunners over 110 pitches. The Mariners were just a little bit better in the end, though, with four pitchers combining to limit Minnesota to one run, and Seattle picking up a walk-off win via Randy Arozarena single in the ninth. As for Raleigh, he's batting .264/.379/.637, and sits one home run ahead of Shohei Ohtani for the MLB lead, and two ahead of Aaron Judge, both of whom went deep multiple times over the weekend while facing off in Los Angeles. Caminero had himself a week Speaking of homers, Rays' third baseman Junior Caminero hit two more of them on Saturday, bringing his weekly total to four. The 21-year-old still has some holes in his game – he's batting .262/.291/.505 for the year with 13 homers – but the power has certainly been there to start the year in a way it wasn't when he got the call in 2024. Caminero went deep 31 times as a 19-year-old in the minors in 2023, and showed off quite a bit of pop at 20 in Triple-A with 13 in 53 games in 2024, but in the majors that same summer his power didn't show up much. Again, though, look at his age: Caminero is still real young, and that he's done this much to this point is only a positive sign. A nightmare weekend for the Phillies Things did not go well for the Phillies this weekend. They were swept by the Brewers at the same time that the Mets happened to be facing the lowly Rockies, who they managed to sweep, meaning Philly dropped three games in the standings in three days, and now sit one game out of first in the NL East. Sure, it's just the beginning of June, but it still doesn't feel very good for this to happen, you know? It also doesn't help that Sunday's defeat at the hands of Milwaukee was a beatdown. The Phillies scored seven runs… and were outscored by 10. The Brewers scored 17 runs for the second time this season, with former Phils' slugger Rhys Hoskins putting up six RBIs and two homers in the effort, while Jackson Chourio had five RBIs and a long ball of his own. A's finally escape May, but bad news, now it's June On May 5, the Athletics had possession of one of the American League's three wild card spots. They were 20-16, four games over .500 and looking like they might have improved on their 2024, which, while not inspiring at 69-93, was a significant step forward after 2023's horrid campaign that saw them lose 112 games. It is June 2. Since that high point, the A's have gone 3-24, including a sweep at the hands of the Blue Jays as the calendar switched from May to June, in which Toronto outscored the Athletics 31-14. They lost 11 games in a row before defeating the Phillies to avoid extending that streak on May 25, and then lost their next six games. The A's are now on pace for 100 losses, on the nose, which is especially alarming given how solid they looked before everything fell apart in May. The offense has been mostly fine – the team lost 12 points of slugging in May, but replaced it with 16 points of on-base percentage, giving them .256/.328/.413 for the month. The pitching, though… Since May 6, the A's innings leader, Jeffrey Springs, has a 4.39 ERA. The next-most innings were logged by Gunnar Hoglund (7.52 ERA). Then JP Sears (8.87), Luis Severino (4.50) and Mitch Spence (5.29). Justin Sterner, the reliever who has appeared in the most games in this run, has an ERA of 11.17 during it. Tyler Ferguson has pitched in 10 of the games, and is at 10.00. The starts made by pitchers who weren't regulars in the rotation all went just as poorly as everyone else's. The news gets worse, of course: Sutter Health Park is supposed to be more of a hitters' park in the summer, since temperatures climb in the Sacramento sun. We're not even at that part of the season yet, and look what's already happened to the pitching staff. Benches clear in Orioles - White Sox On Saturday, Orioles rookie Coby Mayo collected his first MLB RBI, but was then caught in a pickle between first and second. He ended up running into White Sox second baseman Lenyn Sosa and falling to the ground before being tagged out. Feeling that the contact had been embellished, Sosa approached Mayo after the play, who then pushed him out of the way, invoking a mutual confrontation between the teams. Mayo might be a rookie, but you have to have better acting chops than that if you're going to try to place blame on someone else for your fall at the big-league level. The way things worked out, it looks like Mayo went out of his way to hit Sosa, and then fell down while doing that. Sure, the Orioles' coaches probably have enough on their hands in this disappointing season, but you can't neglect the fundamentals. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Kyodo News
2 days ago
- Sport
- Kyodo News
Football: Nadeshiko Japan drop opener of friendly series in Brazil
KYODO NEWS - May 31, 2025 - 14:24 | Sports, All Japan lost to Brazil 3-1 in the opening match of their two-game women's football friendly series against Brazil in Sao Paulo on Friday. The team, nicknamed Nadeshiko Japan, currently fifth in the FIFA world rankings, lost for the first time in five matches since new manager Nils Nielsen took over last December. Eighth-ranked Brazil, who will host the 2027 Women's World Cup, led 2-0 by halftime at Neo Quimica Arena, with Dudinha scoring in the 28th and 42nd minutes. Kerolin made it 3-0 in the 55th minute before Japan got one back in the 89th minute through Brighton attacker Kiko Seike. The two teams will meet again Monday. In February, Japan won the four-nation SheBelieves Cup in the United States. Related coverage: Sumo: Onosato performs ring entry ceremony at Meiji Jingu shrine Baseball: Shohei Ohtani hits MLB-leading 20th homer in Dodgers' win Football: Wataru Endo lifts trophy as Liverpool celebrate title with fans
Kyodo News
2 days ago
- Sport
- Kyodo News
Baseball: Ohtani homers twice, Dodgers win series opener vs. Yankees
KYODO NEWS - 11 hours ago - 16:18 | Sports, All Shohei Ohtani hit a pair of solo home runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied to beat the New York Yankees 8-5 on Friday in the opening game of their 2024 World Series rematch series. After Aaron Judge hit his 19th homer of the season to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Ohtani answered with one of his own in the bottom half at Dodger Stadium. Five innings later, Ohtani launched his major league-leading 22nd home run over the head of right fielder Judge to spark the four-run sixth that turned a 5-2 deficit into a 6-5 lead. The reigning National League MVP had his second two-homer game of the season. Ohtani has hit 15 home runs in May. Asked to comment after the game on his and Judge's home runs in the first inning, Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton, "It was a really good start to the game. It was back and forth between two really good teams, and I'm glad that we came out at the top." Andy Pages singled in two insurance runs in the seventh. Ohtani finished the night 2-for-5 with the two RBIs. The Yankees hit four home runs in the first three innings but were held scoreless the rest of the way. "I feel like I have a pretty good rhythm with my new lifestyle," Ohtani said when asked if he has some "extra dad strength" after the birth of his first child, a daughter, last month. "But we're still really not even in the middle part of the season, so I'm just really focused on one game at a time." Among other Japanese players, Chicago Cubs designated hitter Seiya Suzuki went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to a career-high-tying 10 games in a 6-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Related coverage: Baseball: Shohei Ohtani hits MLB-leading 20th homer in Dodgers' win
