SANTA CLARA – Barry Bonds’ presence simply could not go unnoticed at Rafael Devers’ introductory press conference Tuesday at Oracle Park.
Bonds sat in the front row amid reporters and directly in front of Devers, who was flanked on stage by Buster Posey and other Giants’ brass.
“Just looking at him, my game has improved a lot,” Devers joked in Spanish about Bonds, via interpreter Erwin Higueros.
The Giants expect their lineup to improve a lot as Devers, acquired in Sunday’s blockbuster trade with Boston, settles into his new home – the one Bonds’ home-run prowess essentially built 25 years ago with his unrivaled left-handed power.
“I just feel if I make good contact on the baseball, it’s going to go,” Devers said after Tuesday’s 3-2 defeat to Cleveland. “I don’t really pay attention to the different dimensions of the ballpark.”
Prior to Tuesday night’s 2-for-5 debut as the Giants’ No. 3 hitter against Cleveland, Devers played in only one previous series at Oracle Park in his 8 ½ seasons with the Red Sox. He tallied one hit (a double) in 12 at-bats during a July 2023 three-game visit.
“He’s got the power to hit the ball out anywhere,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “This ballpark’s a beast. It really is. But Rafi Devers has special power.”
Devers displayed that with Boston, both at Fenway Park (95 home runs, 344 RBI, .292 batting average) and away from it (120 home runs, 352 RBI, .267 batting average).
“It’s the same baseball. Nothing changes,” Devers said of switching home ballparks.
“Hitters hit,” chimed in Posey, who pulled the trade’s trigger as the Giants’ first-year president of baseball operations. (Posey hit 61 home runs here and 97 on the road during his 2009-21 tenure as a three-time World Series-winning catcher.)
Devers’ reputation as one of baseball’s top 10 hitters is verified by this season’s statistics, where he entered Tuesday tied for third in RBI (58), sixth in on-base percentage (.401) and second in walks (56). He had 15 home runs in 73 games this season for Boston, after an 0-for-15 start in their opening five games at Texas and Baltimore.
“He’s a presence. He’s a top-10 hitter in the league. He can leave the yard at any time,” Vogt added. “He can also work a walk and find his way on base.”
Logan Webb spoke from a pitcher’s perspective of how Oracle Park could fit Devers, saying: “Good left-handed hitters don’t really have a problem hitting here. He’s one of those guys where I don’t think any ballpark really challenges him. … There’s some guys that you can put them in any ballpark anywhere and they’re going to do just fine.”
That hitting prowess got overlooked amid all the initial fuss about where Devers will play in the field; Giants skipper Bob Melvin said he’ll be groomed at first base, rather than volley among their deep options at third base.
“The offense has been better recently, but this just makes us that much better. Having a guy in the middle of your order like that, it’s pretty extreme,” Melvin said. “… A bat like that, it’s noticed not only by us but everybody in the league.”
As Devers embeds himself as the Giants’ designated hitter, it’s no coincidence Tuesday’s lineup left out Wilmer Flores, their DH in 63 previous games and leading RBI producer (51). Flores is slated to play first base in tonight’s game, whereas Dominic Smith started there Tuesday night.
Devers most often spot in the Red Sox lineup were, in descending order: second, fourth, fifth, then third, which is where Melvin envisions him settling in for the Giants.
“You pencil him in where you feel he’s comfortable and where he’s most impactful,” Melvin said.
A few hours before Devers’ debut in the Giants’ No. 16 jersey, kayakers paddled through McCovey Cove, beyond the right-field wall. Wishful thinking? Or a premonition?
Of the 106 “Splash Hits” into the cove, Bonds accounted for 35 of the first 45 before exiting after the 2007 season.
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Devers, after the game, said he didn’t have the “courage” to ask Bonds for tips but eventually will do so.
“I don’t know him already. It’s kind of hard to know what I’ll say,” Devers said. “I’ll work on it slowly so I become comfortable with him and he becomes comfortable with me.”
Prior to Tuesday, Devers had never seen Bonds in person, much less personally met him. Same went for Posey.
“These are two baseball legends that I was just, ‘Wow,’ ” Devers said. “I hope to accomplish the same thing that those two players did. I have enough talent to do it. I hope when my time is done here in San Francisco, I have the same accolades as they have.”
His lockers — cleats and suitcases filled two next to his primary one — are on the same north-side wall as Bonds’ 20 years ago. Two gloves, including a first baseman’s, sat atop the locker stocked with uniforms and caps.
As for his bats, the Giants need those to dethrone the rival Dodgers, sooner or later.
“I know the potential I have,” Devers said. “My mentality is to not just to make the Dodgers suffer but every team that we play against.”
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