Giants' Star Slugger Should Feel Pressure After Struggles Since Blockbuster Trade

Will the star slugger of the San Francisco Giants turn things around?

Aug 10, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants first baseman Rafael Devers (16) reacts after a strike call during the third inning against the Washington Nationals at Oracle Park. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Despite a golden opportunity to make some noise in the National League Wild Card picture, the San Francisco Giants lost a series at home to the Washington Nationals.

With a massive series looming against the San Diego Padres, the series against the Nationals should have been a chance for the Giants to build momentum and get at least two wins.

Despite winning the first game, San Francisco went on to lose the next two, dropping the series.

Even though there is still hope that they can make a run, this team is once again looking like they will be a .500 squad.

After getting off to such a great start to the year, the Giants got aggressive when they made a blockbuster trade with the Boston Red Sox to acquire a star slugger. Offense has been an issue for San Francisco for several campaigns, and Buster Posey looked to improve it in a significant way.

Unfortunately, that move hasn’t worked out.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about Rafael Devers being a player under pressure for the rest of the season.

“Devers was supposed to be the offensive sensation who pushed San Francisco over the top. Instead, he entered this weekend with a .715 OPS and could be another few rough weeks away from wearing out his welcome with another franchise.”

It has been a tale of two seasons for Devers in 2025, with the results being night and day with his two teams.

Will Devers Turn It Around?

Despite a lot of drama with the Red Sox, the slugger was performing extremely well. In 73 games, he slashed .272/.401/.504 with 15 home runs and 58 RBI. He was well on his way toward making the AL All-Star team, and San Francisco should have been excited to get a slugger of that caliber in the lineup.

Since joining the Giants, Devers hasn’t been 100 percent healthy to his defense, but the numbers have also been shockingly poor. In 46 games, he has slashed .231/.350/.408 with seven home runs and 22 RBI.

Even though San Francisco didn’t have to give up a ton of talent to acquire him, they did take on the entirety of his large contract. With the 2025 campaign starting to look increasingly unlikely that they will make the playoffs, the Giants need to figure out what the plan will be going forward.

Getting Devers right will be an important part of that. He is a player capable of having an OPS north of .900, which would be great for a lineup that has struggled a lot in recent years. Even though expectations for the rest of the season might not be high, the pressure will be on the slugger to perform.