{"id":48653,"date":"2025-03-31T08:43:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T08:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=48653"},"modified":"2025-03-31T08:43:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T08:43:40","slug":"for-a-second-straight-game-rafael-devers-set-a-strikeout-record-to-begin-an-mlb-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=48653","title":{"rendered":"For a second straight game, Rafael Devers set a strikeout record to begin an MLB season"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a common scene to begin the season, Rafael Devers swings and misses on Sunday in Arlington, Texas.<\/span>LM Otero\/Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Rafael Devers went to the plate 18 times during the Red Sox season-opening series against the Rangers in Arlington, Texas. He walked twice, once with the bases loaded for an RBI. He put four balls in play \u2014 all groundouts, three to the first baseman.<\/span><\/p>\n

The other 12 times, he struck out.<\/span><\/p>\n

If that seems historically bad to you, you\u2019re right.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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The team\u2019s new regular designated hitter, having been moved off third base for Gold Glove acquisition Alex Bregman, was the most pointed disappointment from Boston\u2019s 1-3 start. Devers is the first MLB player to strike out 12 times in the first four games of a season, as his 10 through three games were also a record.<\/p>\n

The previous four-game record of 11 was shared by five players, with the Athletics\u2019 Brent Rooker doing it last year. (Rooker, it should be noted, ended up hitting .293 with 39 home runs and finished 10th in AL MVP voting.)<\/p>\n

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A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI feel comfortable at the plate. I feel good,\u201d Devers told reporters after he struck out four times in Friday\u2019s 4-1 loss. \u201cI haven\u2019t hit the ball, but I feel very good. It\u2019s only been two games, and I think everything will change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 12 Devers strikeouts also set a Red Sox series record, breaking the 11 by Wil Cordero in a 1997 four-game set against the Yankees at Fenway Park. Cordero did have four hits in that span, including a home run.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been no such production from Devers, who has missed on a staggering 30 of 46 swings according to data from Baseball Savant. He is yet to put a four-seam fastball into play, missing on 13 swings and fouling off three from Rangers starter Jack Leiter on Friday. (All were 98-99 m.p.h.)<\/p>\n

This is the fourth time in Devers\u2019s career he\u2019s gone hitless in four straight games, and still short of his 0-for-20 across five from Aug. 27-31, 2022. That one offers a reminder that things can flip quickly: Devers went 6 for 11 the next three days, with four doubles, and hit .311 for the month.<\/p>\n

Devers is coming off far from a normal spring. On top of the positional intrigue, he appeared in only five spring training games, slowly working himself in after spending the winter strengthening shoulders which caused him enough discomfort last season that he said he \u201cnever felt like myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rare is the time he\u2019s looked this lost at the plate, however. The timing of the skid, combined with the spring chatter and Devers appearing to be heavier than normal, have the spotlight on manager Alex Cora\u2019s second-highest paid player (after Bregman) extra bright.<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle by little, you start finding stuff that he\u2019s doing now that are just bad habits or mentality about the approach. We just had a good conversation about that,\u201d Cora told reporters before Sunday\u2019s 3-2 loss. \u201cIt\u2019s details that I\u2019ve noticed throughout his career. We can talk about his set-up, we can talk about his hands. But he\u2019s been [adjusting] his hands his whole career \u2014 sometimes they\u2019re down, sometimes they\u2019re up, whatever.”<\/p>\n

Cora said Devers will be in his lineup Monday afternoon in Baltimore, when the Orioles throw lefthander Cade Povich in their home opener. Devers singled twice off the then-rookie last Sept. 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Devers has missed on a staggering 30 of 46 swings according to data from Baseball Savant, and is yet to put a four-seam fastball into play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":48657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-48653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-red-sox"],"yoast_head":"\nFor a second straight game, Rafael Devers set a strikeout record to begin an MLB season - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=48653\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For a second straight game, Rafael Devers set a strikeout record to begin an MLB season - 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