Rafael Devers’ MRIs showed no structural damage in either shoulder. He’s expected to avoid surgery.
The Red Sox placed the slugger on the 10-day injured list with left shoulder inflammation Saturday, ending his 2024 season.
Red Sox' Rafael Devers is expected to avoid surgery on both shoulders. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)AP
“The left one is the one that really bothers him as far as like the swing,” manager Alex Cora said here Sunday at Fenway Park. “It’s been going on since spring training. ... Inflammation. Just stay away from him. I think rest will do the work. There’s no structural damage. There’s no talk of surgery or anything. It’s just rest. Obviously there’s stuff he needs to do in the offseason to get back to normal.”
The third baseman dealt with a sore left shoulder dating back to the end of spring training while taking swings off the pitching machine. He then banged up the right shoulder diving for a ball in Colorado right after the All-Star break.
He batted .272 with a .354 on-base percentage, .516 slugging percentage, .871 OPS, 28 homers, 34 doubles, five triples, 83 RBIs, 87 runs, 67 walks and 147 strikeouts in 138 games (601 plate appearances).
But he posted a .205/.295/.329/.624 line in his final 42 games dating back to the beginning of August. He had just three extra-base hits in his final 28 games dating back to Aug. 18.
“You saw the swing. He battled through it. It’s been on and off,” Cora said. “The bat speed was down and I think this is the smart thing to do.”
Cora said the velocity on Devers’ throws also recently decreased.
“That one (the right shoulder) goes on and off,” Cora said. “That’s the one in Colorado when he dove. Towards the end, it wasn’t great. You can see the velo, it was going down. He was really good (with arm velo) earlier in the season and then that happened. It went down. But it was more about the left one with the swing.”
