Rafael Devers breaks media silence amid slump: 'There's no reason to be frustrated'

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Every baseball player goes through ups and downs. That’s the only thing I know how to do. And I do believe in myself that eventually I’m going to get out of this funk.” Devers, 29, isn’t the only reason the Giants are 13-16, averaging a major league-worst 3.34 runs per game and have been shut out a league-high six times, including a 7-0 loss in Tuesday night’s series opener at Philadelphia. But he’s probably the most significant underperformer. He has hit just two home runs and his .548 OPS is down more than 300 points from last season. He is on pace for 33 walks after drawing 112 last season — a consequence of fearless pitchers pumping fastballs for strikes and letting him swing through them. The Giants rank a distant last with 58 walks this season; the Arizona Diamondbacks, who rank 29th, have drawn 75. Devers did not express much in the way of accountability for the Giants’ offensive struggles, and he barely acknowledged his own. He answered a seemingly innocuous introductory question about frustration by taking offense at it. “We’re humans,” Devers said during a four-minute session before a game that was postponed because of impending rain. “I don’t understand why media in general always thinks that we or I am frustrated. It’s something that I really don’t appreciate, and this is the reason why I sometimes don’t want to talk to the media because it’s very negative.” Devers said he hasn’t been impacted by missing time in spring training with a mild hamstring injury that compelled the Giants to begin the season with him as a designated hitter. He had a rough reintroduction to first base but has made consistent improvement, just as he did last year when he played the position for the first time not long after arriving from the Boston Red Sox in a midsummer megadeal. It’s the hitting component that continues to be missing. What does he make of his issues with fastballs? “I really don’t concern myself with that,” Devers said. “I know that, yes, I have to make adjustments, and that’s something that we baseball players have to do: make adjustments. I just don’t like it when we’re losing a lot of games, but if we’re winning, then I know that we’re on the right track.” Devers is working with hitting coaches Hunter Mense and Oscar Bernard, but he bristled when it was suggested that he is working on making changes. “No, no, I stay with my swing,” Devers said. “I think that when you start tinkering with the swing, that’s when you face more struggles. And I have always just stayed the same. … I’m working with hitting coaches, but I’m not changing anything.” What does Devers make of the vote of confidence that Giants president Buster Posey gave to The Athletic on the last homestand? “It’s good to hear that,” Devers said. “Those are very kind words of Buster. But at the same time, I know the kind of player I am. I have said it before: I’m gonna get out of this, and I know what I can bring to the table.” Devers’ struggles present an interesting early test for Giants manager Tony Vitello, the first college coach in more than a century to go straight to running a major league dugout. When managing a schedule of roughly 60 games, there isn’t time to be patient or let hitters work through slumps. Then again, no college hitters can show an eight- or nine-year track record of being among the game’s most productive hitters against the best pitching on the planet. “The first thing is to know thyself, and once you do that, then you know what the answers are,” Vitello said. “So I get what you’re saying, but in this case, the numbers maybe do lend themselves a little bit more towards, ‘Patience pays off.’ Let it play out. You start thinking drastic changes, next thing you know, you’re tinkering seven or eight times, and you end up circling right back to your true self. “I don’t think there’s been any kind of sense of panic. I haven’t seen any new drill. Certainly, there hasn’t been any new stance. It’s just that currently, him and a couple other guys that are fully capable of doing stuff are not in the best swing of things. But give it a couple weeks. I bet you they will be.” Devers cut off the session with reporters after four minutes, saying he had to get to practice. When asked if he had any reaction to the Red Sox’s decision over the weekend to fire manager Alex Cora, with whom he won a World Series in 2018, Devers simply said “no.” Devers had clashed with Red Sox management over their request that he learn first base last year, and the relationship became so unsalvageable that he was traded just 17 months after signing a 10-year, $313.5 million contract. At least Devers still knows how to swat away a question he doesn’t like. “I think he knows himself better than anybody,” Vitello said. “When you’re used to greatness out of somebody or just a very high level of success, anytime it doesn’t happen again, people can overreact. That’s not nearly as important as the reaction of the player. Clearly, Rafi is reacting with composure and understanding of what he’s capable of, knowing that in time it’ll come, as long as he sticks to who he is.” The Giants and Phillies will make up Wednesday’s game as a split doubleheader on Thursday. First pitches are scheduled for 12:35 p.m. and 5:35 p.m. EDT. The Giants made a roster move before Wednesday’s postponement, optioning right-hander Blade Tidwell and promoting right-hander Gregory Santos from Triple-A Sacramento. Vitello said that Tidwell, who threw 47 pitches in mop-up duty Tuesday, would be stretched out in a starting role at Sacramento. So Tidwell could emerge as a rotation candidate if the team needs a remedy for injury or ineffectiveness of a member of the Giants’ starting five. The Giants and Phillies will be allowed an extra player for Game 2 Thursday. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms