When the Boston Red Sox traded their star designated hitter Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants on June 15, in the second year of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract, the general feeling around baseball was that Boston had just sacrificed the best hitter on the roster.
In fact, Devers was not the best hitter on the Red Sox team, at least not according 2025 statistics. Third baseman Alex Bregman, acquired by the Red Sox as a free agent at the outset of spring training on a three-year, $120 million deal, was the more productive hitter.
Bregman had an OPS of .938, highest on the team. Devers was second at .905. Bregman hit 11 home runs in 226 plate appearances, a rate of one every 20.5 at bats. Devers hit 15 homers but it took him 334 plate appearances — or one dinger every 22.3 PAs.
Bregman’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) number was 2.9. Devers — 2.3.
There was only one problem. Bregman was hurt. On May 23, in a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park the 31-year-old two-time All-Star suffered a strained right quadriceps muscle, and has been on the injured list ever since.
Manager Alex Cora called Bregman’s injury “significant,” and the team’s hottest hitter was expected to be sidelined for at least 10 weeks.
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Now, slightly more than five weeks after the injury, the Red Sox made an announcement about their third baseman that could only give a ray of hope to the struggling team.
“The way he’s talking about it, he’s close to 100 percent,” Cora said after talking with Bregman, who had resumed baseball activities over the weekend.
Cora added that Bregman was “feeling great,” and the Red Sox medical staff would reevaluate his status over the coming weekend.
Bregman himself spoke to reporters on Monday as well, and confirmed Cora’s optimistic report.
Alex Bregman taking grounders at Fenway pic.twitter.com/ngHL6Zb1LD
— Gordo (@BOSSportsGordo) June 28, 2025
“I feel really good. Today was the best I’ve felt during the rehab process,” Bregman said, speaking in the Red Sox dugout before a home game against the Cincinnati Reds. “The fastest I’ve ran. I resumed full baseball activity, so this is a lot of weeks ahead of what we predicted.”
The Red Sox can use Bregman’s offense to, they hope, get their season back on the right track. Since trading Devers, Boston has lost eight of its last 12 games, prior to Monday’s contest.
Though they scored 15 runs in a single game against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday, subtracting that outlier performance, the Red Sox have averaged just 2.8 runs in their other 11 games since the Devers deal.
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