Adding starting pitchers Walker Buehler and Garret Crochet to the rotation was a bright spot for the Boston Red Sox this past offseason. If this wasn’t enough to prove they meant business for 2025, they made perhaps the second biggest splash in the free agent market.

Third baseman Alex Bregman joined the Red Sox on a three-year deal worth $120 million. This caused a little bit of controversy in the Boston clubhouse as Rafael Devers was adamant about remaining at the hot corner despite the addition of Bregman. Of course, Devers lost that battle and has now moved primarily to the designated hitter role. Devers has fallen short of his individual expectations so far this season but it has nothing to do with his position change.

In fact, Devers struggles can be blamed on his preparation and distractions he caused. Devers punishes misplaced pitches at his best, but in 2025, he has failed to do so on a consistent basis. While his brutal start to the season is misleading given he has rebounded some since, he has yet to reach the standard of play Red Sox fans have grown accustomed to.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.

Rafael Devers’ struggles come back to fundamentals of hitting

A season ago, Devers posted a .272 batting average to go along with 28 homers and 83 RBIs on a team that missed the playoffs. Fast forward through the first few weeks of the 2025 season and he is no where near himself.

Devers is hitting just .202 this year with two homers and 14 RBIs through his first 26 games. The left-handed slugger is showing a great deal of patience through these struggles by drawing an American League leading 21 walks but has also went down on strikes 34 times (also the most in the AL).

The pitch that Devers seems to be having the most trouble with this season is the fastball. Normally, no pitcher would want to throw Devers a fastball anywhere near the zone. In 2025, statistics show that is how you should attack him.

Against fastballs this season, Devers is hitting just .179 with a xBA (expected batting average) of .216. These numbers show that for Devers to turn things around he needs to adopt the most simple hitting philosophy there is: hit the heater.