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Sunday, October 6, 2024

Rafael Devers dealing with shoulder inflammation, won’t need surgery

Rafael Devers will not need surgery on his injured shoulders this offseason, Red Sox manager Alex Cora confirmed Sunday.

Devers was shut down for the year on Saturday after battling through shoulder soreness throughout the season, but an MRI revealed no structural damage, only inflammation.

“I think rest will do the work, there’s no structural damage, there’s no talk of surgery, it’s just rest,” Cora said. “Obviously there’s stuff he needs to do in the offseason to get back to normal but at least that’s good news.”

Devers has been battling shoulder pain since the spring, particularly in his left shoulder. That issue has bothered him more consistently and affects his swing the most, but Devers’ right shoulder has also been sore ever since he landed awkwardly on it trying to make a diving stop on a scary play in Colorado.

Red Sox 3B Rafael Devers avoids injury after scary sixth-inning incident

That play was reminiscent of the incident that knocked Trevor Story out of action for four months, but while Devers avoided disaster, the soreness has lingered and affected Devers’ ability to throw from third base.

“That one goes on and off, that was the one in Colorado when he dove. Towards the end it wasn’t great, you can see the velo, it was going down,” Cora said. “He was actually really good early in the season and then that happened and it went down. It was more about the left one with this one.”

Though Devers consistently played through the injuries over the course of the season, it became apparent as time went on he was being worn down. Through the first four months of the season Devers was one of the most impactful hitters in baseball, batting .302 with 24 home runs, 69 RBI and a .979 OPS through July 31. From Aug. 1 onwards, however, he was a virtual non-factor, batting .205 with four home runs, 14 RBI and a .624 OPS.

Finally, after Friday night’s extra-innings loss that all but ended Boston’s playoff hopes, the Red Sox decided it was time to pull the plug.

“You saw the swing, he battled through it, it’s been on and off but he was cutting himself off, the bat speed was down and I think this is the smart thing to do,” Cora said of shutting Devers down.

With only a week left in the regular season, Cora said Devers will remain with the team in Boston for a little while longer before heading back home to the Dominican Republic. Once there he’ll do his offseason work at the Red Sox’s Dominican Academy before eventually building back up for spring training.

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