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Ever since the reports came out Tuesday night that Rafael Devers spent 40 minutes sitting and staring at his locker, still in uniform, bat in hand, there’s been a conversation surrounding his role as the team's "leader" on and off the field. People are demanding that he be held accountable for not meeting with the media to discuss his own struggles at the plate and the struggles the team is currently facing. There are reports that even the organization is unhappy with his decision not to speak to the media. However, just because Devers is the highest-paid and best player on the roster does not mean he should be considered the vocal leader off the field.
It was assumed that when Xander Bogaerts departed from free agency, his best friend on the team, Devers, would slide into his role as the vocal leader solely because of their relationship. Xander was always willing to speak to the media and had cultivated a positive relationship with them. He was also comfortable speaking to the media in English. Giving interviews and answering questions in English is not something Rafael Devers is comfortable doing. Raffy speaks English fairly comfortably, but when it comes to being on record, he prefers to use one of the translators employed by the team to ensure his thoughts are communicated clearly and correctly. Even still, we know that translators often have to make quick word substitutions, so their answers may not be the word-for-word thing they were initially told.
To boot, the best player on the team has rarely been the face of the team with the media. When Mookie Betts was still here, who would the media speak to most often? Xander Bogaerts. While Xander was one of the top guys on the team, the expectation of Mookie being the one to face reporters often wasn’t there. Sure, Mookie speaks more than Raffy does, but that’s why people notice when Raffy does speak. Specifically, he sat down in February during Spring Training and said, “Everybody knows what we need. You know what we need. They know what we need.” We took notice specifically because that was not the standard Raffy response. Do we wish he would do that a bit more? Maybe. Should we demand him to? No.
Rafael Devers was paid for two reasons. He hits, and he is a leader on the field. He posts almost every game. He plays through injury unless Alex Cora forces him to sit, but he is probably available off the bench in the right situation. As fans, we want to hear from our franchise’s stars, but not every star leads in the same way. Devers leads on the field, and that is all we need him to do.
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