Alex Cora Provides Worrying Update on Rafael Devers Injury
It's been a brutal start to the year for the Red Sox on the injury front. Lucas Giolito (elbow) and Trevor Story (shoulder) are both already done for the season. They also placed Nick Pivetta (elbow) on the 15-day IR list.
Now third baseman Rafael Devers is dealing with a nagging shoulder injury.
Devers was given a maintenance day in Thursday's contest against the Baltimore Orioles. He's been dealing with this shoulder issue since Spring Training but it hasn't been improving. If anything, it's been getting worse.
Manager Alex Cora provided the fanbase with a troubling update. Cora said, "He’s battling the shoulder. You can see it on the swings. Just give him a day. Hopefully, that’s what he needs, and go from there."
Cora didn't shut down the idea of Devers heading to the IR. He stated, "From my end, it’s too early to grind. I know every game matters. But if he needs one, two, three (days off) or it’s an IL stint, then so be it. But we have to take care of this."
It would make sense to place Devers on the injured list to give him time to recover. The 27-year-old has struggled to start the year going 7-of-38 (.184 batting average) with two home runs and three RBI.
Cora added, "You can see his reactions. Very similar to a few years ago with the elbow. Whenever he swings and misses, it like recoils. His swing is a little bit different than early in camp.”
We'll see how things progress but there is a high likelihood that Devers has a stint on the IR.
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