BOSTON — Alex Bregman is on the injured list for the foreseeable future with a right quad strain. His absence is not only a significant blow to the Boston Red Sox lineup, but they now must figure out who plays third base in Bregman’s stead. Red Sox manager Alex Cora made one thing clear on Saturday: Rafael Devers will not replace Bregman at the hot corner.
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In 51 games, Bregman hit .299 with a 938 OPS and 11 homers. To take Bregman’s place on the roster the Red Sox promoted top infield prospect Marcelo Mayer, who started at third base and batted sixth in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader. The team transferred Triston Casas to the 60-day IL to make room for Mayer.
Prior to Saturday, Mayer had played just six career games at third base, four this season in Triple-A Worcester and two last season in Double-A Portland. Even with that limited amount of experience, Mayer will team with infielders Nick Sogard and Abraham Toro to get the majority of the third base reps until Bregman’s return, Cora said.
“We made a decision in the offseason and this is where we’re going,” Cora said of the decision not to move Devers back to his natural position. “I’m not going to react to the outside world because people think that (Devers back to third base is) the right move. Maybe it’s not, maybe we’re doing it right. Maybe we’re doing it wrong. I don’t know.
“I know that the guy’s raking, he’s the best DH in the American League right now,” Cora added. “If he keeps continuing to do this, he’s going to be in the All-Star game as a DH. He’s going to win a Silver Slugger at DH. Where we are at right now, this is where we’re going. We made a decision. We’ll continue to talk. I’m not saying we’re going to close the door, but we feel very comfortable with Raffy Devers at DH.”
On Friday, Devers crushed a three-run homer and a grand slam, driving in a career-high eight runs. On Saturday in the first game of the doubleheader, he went 2-for-4, hitting a walk-off single in the 10th for a 6-5 win.
It may be a while before both Devers and Bregman are in the same lineup again. In between games, Cora revealed Bregman suffered a “significant injury” to his right quad, one similar to a 2021 left quad injury for which Bregman missed 58 games.
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Bregman himself was despondent in the clubhouse.
“It’s horrible,” he said, his hat pulled down as he rarely looked up at the cameras.
“I felt better yesterday when I hurt it, then last night I couldn’t really fall asleep, so started hurt pretty good,” he said. “Then after the MRI, found out it was pretty severely strained. And now it’s time to focus on rehab.”
Bregman and Devers have powered an inconsistent Red Sox offense all season and now Devers will need the rest of the lineup to step up. Wilyer Abreu and Jarren Duran have shown flashes.
“We’re going to be OK, we’re going to be OK,” Cora said, almost as if he was convincing himself. “We have a good baseball team. Like I said before the game, if we thought, with 26 guys, we would be able to make it to where we want to go, that’s not the case. We have two main guys (Bregman and Casas) that are hurt, but we have capable guys not only here, but also throughout the organization that can help us.”
One of those guys in the organization in position to help is Mayer, the 2021 first-round pick who ranked as the No. 28 prospect in baseball entering this season. Despite coming up as a shortstop, Mayer will get a big-league crash course at third base.
“He can play second, short, third,” Cora said. “Obviously he’s swinging the bat well, he’s a good base runner.”
Mayer made his much anticipated MLB debut as a third baseman. (Winslow Townson / Getty Images)
Though Mayer played four games at third base for Worcester, he spent more time at the other two infield positions, playing nine games at second base and 29 at shortstop.
Sogard has played nine games at third over the last two years with the Red Sox, but does have 183 minor-league games at the position. Toro has played 161 games at third in the majors over seven seasons.
“There’s a few guys that have experience over there, we’ll mix and match,” Cora said.
Devers, meanwhile, has settled into the designated hitter role. Cora acknowledged this is the best he’s ever seen Devers hit in his career.
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“He’s dominating the strike zone,” Cora said. “He’s gone through stretches like that in his career and they’ve been really good. But this is the most consistent I’ve seen him swinging at strikes.”
Entering Game 2 of the Saturday night doubleheader, Devers was hitting .303 with a .971 OPS in 54 games.
“It doesn’t mean that he loves DH-ing, He’s gotten used to it, and he’s doing an outstanding job,” Cora said. “He still believes probably that he should be a defender. But at this moment, he knows that this is where he’s comfortable, and we want to continue this.”
(Top photo: Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)
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