Red Sox travel familiar ground with early Rafael Devers call-up

The Red Sox may be taking a gamble by promoting top prospect Rafael Devers to the majors this quickly, but it’s a familiar one.

Whenever one of baseball’s top prospects makes a big league debut, it’s a noteworthy story. For the Boston Red Sox, promoting 20-year-old Rafael Devers is particularly significant as they attempt to shore up their third base situation in preparation for a playoff run. Team president Dave Dombrowski made the announcement yesterday.

Devers carries plenty of buzz with him, and for good reason. The Dominican Republic native has been a standout performer in the Red Sox farm system over the past few years, which has been reflected in prospect rankings from various publications. Devers entered the 2017 season ranked #13 overall by Baseball Prospectus, #17 by MLB.com and #18 by Baseball America.

A stellar showing this summer has only raised his stock. Devers slashed .300/.369/.575 with 18 home runs and 56 RBI in 77 games at Double-A Portland. Less than two weeks ago, he was called up to Triple-A Pawtucket where he continued to put up great numbers, albeit in a very small sample size: .400/.447/.600, two homers and four RBI in nine games. In their midseason top prospects list released earlier this month, Baseball America bumped him up to #6 overall.

Of course, the main point of debate in Devers’ promotion is its timing. As previously mentioned, he has played only nine games at the Triple-A level, and 77 at Double-A. The rapid advancement suggests just how desperate the Red Sox are at the hot corner. They rank dead-last in MLB in OPS by third basemen at .600. Missing out on Todd Frazier – a deal many thought was inevitable – seems to have forced them back to the drawing board.

However, while bringing Devers up so soon is a risk, it’s one Boston has taken before. Jackie Bradley Jr. made his debut on Opening Day in 2013 without playing a game at Triple-A. Later that season Xander Bogaerts took his first bow as a 20-year-old, though he had appeared in 60 games at Triple-A by then. Just last year, the Sox promoted Andrew Benintendi and Yoan Moncada before either had made a single appearance for Pawtucket.

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The results of those previous early call-ups? A mixed bag. Bradley posted a .189/.280/.337 line in 37 games in 2013. Bogaerts slashed a modest .250/.320/.364 in 18 games that year. Moncada hit just .211/.250/.263 over 20 plate appearances. Benintendi fared the best, batting .295/.359/.476 in 34 contests, which made him a preseason Rookie of the Year favorite for 2017.

While most of those first-season numbers don’t jump off the screen, the Red Sox certainly didn’t “ruin” any of those young players by fast-tracking them to the big leagues. Bogaerts, Bradley and Benintendi are part of Boston’s long-term core. They used Moncada to bring in Chris Sale, and while he has yet to establish himself at the major league level, he has remained one of the game’s top prospects and recently received the call up to Chicago.

There’s no telling how Devers will perform, but given the dire situation at third base along with his prospect pedigree and impressive numbers in the minors, it might not be as bold a leap as it seems.

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And even with the promotion, it still feels like the Red Sox will do something before the trade deadline to address the position. They’ve reportedly been thinking outside the box by considering Cincinnati’s Zack Cozart; either he or Bogaerts would presumably move to third base. Eduardo Nunez of the Giants also still seems like a fit and likely wouldn’t cost too much.

This will surely be a situation to monitor over the next week.