3 Red Sox Who Take the Most Blame for Disastrous Defense

3. Rafael Devers

Devers has never been known for his defense, but it’s been especially bad this year. Again per FanGraphs, he rates as the worst-fielding qualified player at the hot corner this season.

Similar to Casas, part of the problem with Devers is his size. He’s a thick 6 feet tall at 235 pounds, which makes life tough at a position that demands cat-like reflexes. It also doesn’t help that he’s been sharing the left side of the infield with a brutal defender for much of the season, as we covered above.

Much of Devers’ defensive issues throughout his career have stemmed from a lack of focus, however. He tends to get lazy with his footwork, which results in errant throws across the diamond.

Devers must become more consistent if he wants to remain at third base, especially after signing a huge contract extension last winter. He graded out as a plus defender in 2019 and was decent last year, so the potential is there — he just needs to keep his head in the game.

While Devers will likely move to DH at some point during his decade-long contract extension, Boston would at least like to get a few more seasons out of him at third before that happens.

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