Written by Jon Tayler at SI.com
Sometimes, the best trade is the one you don’t end up making. That’s been the case for the Red Sox since the deadline, when they passed on acquiring an outside upgrade for third base and instead turned to a 20-year-old rookie. When Rafael Devers made his major league debut on July 25, he did so having taken just 38 at-bats above Double A, all this season. Nevertheless the Dominican native has been a difference maker in Boston, helping key a Red Sox resurgence in the AL East.
There’s been no bigger hit for the Sox than what Devers delivered on Sunday night in New York. Facing Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman in a 2–1 game with one out in the ninth, Devers took a 1–2 fastball at 102.8 mph and sent it over the 399-foot sign in left-centerfield for a game-tying solo home run. Boston went on to win, 3–2, in 10 innings.
Devers’ home run was exceedingly rare. The lefty-throwing Chapman hadn’t allowed a homer all season to that point and has given up just six since the start of 2015 (a span of 647 batters). Further, for a lefthanded batter to take him deep is virtually unheard of: Of the 422 lefty hitters who have faced him, only two have homered. To succeed with two strikes against him is equally unlikely, with opposing batters holding a career .102/.189/.141 line in 1,112 plate appearances in that situation. And in at least one respect, Devers stands alone: By taking a 102.8-mph fastball out, he now owns the record for the fastest pitch ever hit for a homer in the Statcast era, which dates to 2015. And all of that comes from a kid who looks barely old enough to shave (and that’s borne out by his nickname, “Carita,” which means “babyface” in Spanish).
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