One of the great things about the Garrett Crochet extension is that it takes a little bit of the heat off of Rafael Devers’ historically horrific start. Thanks to Statcast, we can clearly see that the culprit is his lack of bat speed. So is that an indication that his shoulders are still hurting? Not according to Alex Cora, who also dismisses the idea that DHing has anything to do with the slump. (Christopher Smith, MassLive)
Unfortunately, Devers’ terrible start highlights just how important he is to the Red Sox as a whole.