2025 Fantasy Baseball: Rafael Devers Profile, Preview, Predictions
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Rafael Devers PIMPED his home run and Gerrit Cole did not like it pic.twitter.com/ymPGvNx5e8
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 6, 2024
As the Red Sox starting lineup improves, so should Devers's bat and production. Nagging injuries have been a factor over the past three seasons, leading to his underperformance in some areas.
3B – Rafael Devers, BOS (ADP – 39.7)
It’s been six years since Devers posted his best season (.311/129/32/115/8 over 647 at-bats). He had 201 hits in 2019 with a league-high 54 doubles, and 44.8% of his hits went for extra bases.
Over the past four seasons, Devers averaged 90 runs, 32 home runs, 96 RBIs, and four steals. His best stats have come in odd years over this span. Last year, he missed 24 games with a left knee and shoulder issue. Devers was superb from May through July (.307/59/21/62/2 over 293 at-bats). Unfortunately, his shoulder injury led to a poor end to the season (.205 with 18 runs, four home runs, 14 RBIs, and one stolen bases over 161 at-bats). He lost his way vs. left-handed pitching (.240/27/4/230 over 204 at-bats).
Devers still ranked high in exit velocity (93.2 mph – 11th) and hard-hit rate (52.6). His HR/FB rate (19.9) was a three-year high, but he had a regression in his fly-ball rate (36.7). Devers took the most walks (11.2%) of his career while losing ground in his strikeout rate (24.5 – 21.2 in his career).
Fantasy Outlook: There is another gear in Devers’ bat that the fantasy community hasn’t seen yet. His contact batting average (.373) and average hit rate (1.895) paint a high average bat with 40 home run upside, and he will accumulate more runs and RBIs as the Red Sox offense improves. Devers ranked 27th in FPGscore (2.21) for hitters. He comes off the board as the 29th batter in early January. On a path to another 90/30/90 season with some help in batting average. Any steals are a bonus.
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With 20+ years of experience in the high-stakes fantasy market, I aim to research and compete at the highest level in baseball and football each season. I've contributed as a writer/analyst for Sports Draft Daily, ScoutPro, Scout Fantasy, Fulltime Fantasy, FFToolbox, and Sports Illustrated Fantasy. I'm honored to be in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship Hall of Fame. My drafting philosophy is risk-averse yet open to betting on potential game-changers. I approach player selection with a neutral perspective, acknowledging that fantasy sports are inherently unpredictable due to injuries, performance dips, and managerial decisions. My work focuses on these main areas: - Season-long fantasy baseball and football - BestBall Baseball and Football Events - Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): DraftKings, FanDuel, and Underdog - Long Shot Player Prop Parlays for NFL I participate in various leagues and contests, including NFBC, NFFC, RTSports, FFPC, DraftKings, Underdog Fantasy, FanDuel, and FFWC, with the goal of leveraging my extensive experience and research for success in each game format. A fantasy follower can expect in-depth profiles of NFL and MLB players, along with season-long and weekly projections for each fantasy football season. In addition, I have many strategy articles to help develop fantasy players' learning curves.
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