Rafael Devers continues to flounder to begin the 2025 MLB season, and now even his weight has become a topic of conversation.
The Boston Red Sox star Devers had another rough day at the plate on Sunday. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts as Boston lost 3-2 to the Texas Rangers (who took three out of four overall against the Red Sox in the opening series of the season).
After the game, Red Sox great Jonathan Papelbon, who is now an analyst for the team on NESN, called Devers’ weight into question while on television.
“Maybe [Devers] is out of shape … game shape, playing shape,” said Papelbon. “Maybe we gotta trim a little bit of fat … Know what happens when you trim fat? Pigs squeal … You trim fat, pigs squeal. That’s what you’re looking for — for your pigs to squeal. They hit home runs.”
Papelbon also noted that it looked like Devers’ swing was a bit behind to start off the season and that his front foot was getting down late.
At the very least, Papelbon, a four-time All-Star and one-time World Series champion with the Red Sox who was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2024, is correct that Devers looks really off right now. The three-time All-Star Devers is now hitless through four games to begin the year and has struck out multiple times in all four games (for a total of 12 whiffs in the early going). Devers also set a shameful MLB record with his brutal opening series against the Rangers and now owns a surreal slash line of .000/.111/.000 in 2025.
With Devers, who is officially listed at 245 pounds, some perspective is probably necessary. It has really just been a mere 16 at-bats that has everyone so worried, and he still has another 158 games to right the ship. But with Devers also making a notable positional change for Boston this year, expectations are high for him at the plate this season. He has failed (rather miserably) to live up to those expectations thus far.
