Rafael Devers continues to show All-Star form in Red Sox’ sweep of Yankees

If the first phase of voting was an indicator, Rafael Devers could earn his first career All-Star appearance with a start next month in Denver.

This weekend, Devers showed exactly why.

The 24-year-old third baseman is producing the best first half of his career in all facets of his game, consistently torching the baseball at the plate and making significant improvements on defense. That was all on display as he fueled the Red Sox to a weekend sweep of the Yankees.

“This kid, he was into this series,” manager Alex Cora said. “I saw him talking to veterans about situations, about at-bats, and he keeps growing. Like I said, this is his best first half of the season professionally and we all know what he does in the second one, so it should be fun watching him.”

In Saturday’s win, Devers was all over the place. He made possibly his best defensive play of the season when he barehanded a slow grounder for an out to first, and he made a head’s up play by tagging up and scoring from third on a short foul out, as he caught the Yankees by surprise.

Sunday, it was more of the same as he smoked a three-run homer off Yankees ace Gerrit Cole in the first inning to send the Red Sox on their way. He jumped all over Cole’s 100 mph fastball and sent it 451 feet to right, the third-longest homer of his career.

Devers had struggled keeping up with fastballs earlier this year but he’s doing just fine against them now. Sunday’s shot against Cole was the second time in his career he’s homered on a 100 mph or faster pitch, the first coming on his famous homer against Aroldis Chapman in 2017.

Devers is proud of how he’s started this season, and wants to keep going.

“I give 100 percent like I always do,” Devers said. “The best part is staying healthy, being available, and continuing to grow as a player, that’s what’s helped me have the type of year that I’m having right now. It’s really good and I’m just trying to stay consistent.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3xWaTaw