Should Red Sox Fans Be Concerned With Rafael Devers' Power Outage?
Boston Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers has hit a bump in the road with his power production.
The new face of the team, coming off an 11-year, $331 million deal this offseason, started this year very strong at the plate. He had 10 homers in the month of April and was on pace to shatter his yearly offensive production from an already impressive start to his career.
But in Devers' last 60 at-bats he has just one home run. The lack of pop for the young star has been noticeable in big spots too.
While he's still maintained a .302 batting average in the month of May, the huge contract he signed in the offseason wasn't just for him to get on base. The Sox will need that expected power if they want to make a push at a postseason spot this year.
Looking deeper into Devers' stats for this season, he still doesn't have much reason to be concerned with the outcomes of his at-bats so far. Raffy ranks in the top 7% in all of baseball in average exit velocity (93.1 mph), the top 8% in expected slugging percentage (.556), the top 9% in hard-hit percentage (52.3%) and the top 13% in barrel percentage (14.6%).
All of these numbers should lead you to believe that the homers may be down this month, but that they're certainly on the way.
It's still somewhat eye-opening that Devers was on pace for 58 home runs this season on April 29th, and that expected homer total is now down to 39 by May 17th.
Raffy has struggled with offspeed pitches so far this year, hitting .158 with just one homer. Pitchers may continue to avoid throwing him heaters, as that's led to his highest average (.313) and the majority of his home runs (eight) this season.
The Sox will need Devers' pop for their upcoming West Coast road trip that includes series against the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Angels and Arizona Diamondbacks. Raffy has yet to homer at Petco Park or Chase Field in his career. They are two of just eight Major League Baseball parks in which Raffy has zero career home runs.
As it starts to get warmer out, one can only imagine the big flies will come for Devers. So there is no need to worry quite yet, but I am at the very least concerned to the point where it was worth digging into. Which means... something.
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