Article: Breaking Down Rafael Devers’ Key Walk on Sunday

[Nick John]

Despite his early-season struggles, when it mattered the most against the Cardinals, Rafael Devers showed why he's one of the most feared hitters in the game.

There are several moments that can change the entire outcome of the game. Whether it’s a clutch hit, a defensive stop or even just a walk, a simple thing can have huge ramifications. The flashiest plays don't always lead to wins, and any contribution can be important. This was on display just this past Sunday, as the Red Sox and Cardinals battled it out in the first game of a doubleheader. In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Red Sox fought hard to get back into the game, down by two. Facing arguably one of the top closers in the game in Ryan Helsley, their chances did not look good. Despite the unlikely odds of winning, they fought and clawed their way into a chance, managing to make it a one-run game and loading the bases with two outs.

The Red Sox also had the one player they would usually want stepping to the plate: Rafael Devers. Devers’ early season struggles have been covered at length, but he had been turning it around over the past few days. He entered the game five for his past 11, then hit his first home run of the season up into the Monster seats. He was truly back. The at-bat was going to be a battle for both sides; two stars facing off with the game on the line.

Helsley started out strong, throwing a fastball clocked at 100.9 mph middle-in. Whether that was its intended location or not, it was the perfect spot to throw based on Devers’ early season struggles. Middle-in is one of Devers’ preferred spots; he's run an 82% swing percentage there. Unfortunately, he has not had much success there, at least early in the season. He'd whiffed on 44% of them and had yet to turn one into a hit. 

Helsley followed it up with a slider that you can’t help but think was a mistake. All game he struggled to control the pitch but refused to abandon it. He had the slider 52% of the time entering the game, but it was not a trusty pitch on the day. Overall, he threw 18 of them with only 44% in the zone and just a 20% chae rate. In total, only eight of his sliders landed in the strike zone and only two outside of the zone were chased. Fortunately for him, Devers did not swing at the middle-middle slider, choosing to take it and fall behind in the count as he had two strikes on him.

This was where the patience Devers showed throughout the season paid off. Quite a few hitters would get jumpy down 0-2, especially with two outs, bases loaded, and the tying run at third base. Devers remained calm, taking the next pitch,  a slider in the dirt. Despite having a fastball he could throw at 100 mph, Helsley and the Cardinals continued to go with the slider that had been unreliable all afternoon.

The fourth pitch continued that trend, another slider middle-outside. Devers let it go right by him and didn’t offer again. He had worked the count back into something more favorable, two balls, two strikes, and he was showing Helsley he was not going to chase. All season, he showed that pitches outside the zone had to look convincing to get him to chase and none of Helsley’s sliders were doing the job.

Still, Helsley tried the slider once more, and just like the previous three sliders, Devers did not swing. Instead, he watched as Helsley tried to backdoor it into the upper-outside portion of the zone. He couldn’t get it to break enough as Devers watched it pass by once more and now had a full count.

This was when Devers’ patience cornered Helsley. He was not going to chase a slider, and with the bases loaded Helsley could not risk throwing another, given his spotty command. He went with the fastball, and everyone watching knowing that it was coming. Devers was prepared, staring down the pitcher as he readied himself. Helsley threw the sixth and final pitch of the at-bat, the closest one to the strike zone since getting ahead with two early strikes. Devers didn’t swing at it, however. The pitch was too far off the plate. It was a close pitch for the situation, but Devers could tell it would be too far off the plate, landing just outside at the bottom of the zone.

Devers battled, watching pitch after pitch and not jumping at one of them. After his first miss Devers did not swing again throughout the at-bat, allowing his eyes to do the work for him and tie the game up with a walk. With it he completed the rally to tie the game and shifted momentum completely over to the Red Sox.

While everyone would probably prefer a hit to walk off the game, a game-tying walk is just as exciting. Especially when Devers had to fight back after falling behind two strikes. It would have been easy to just swing at one of the various pitches thrown by Helsley, to wave at a slider that looked to be breaking over the plate but remained too far outside. Instead, he stuck to his method, he worked the at-bat until he either got a pitch he liked or earned a walk. And with his still questionable hitting up to that point in time, Devers did everything he could to tie the game and give Alex Bregman a chance to win it all. That single at-bat might have been his best in the entire game.

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