Rafael Devers returns from Globe Baseball Classic

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Rafael Devers, in spite of a disappointing all round efficiency in the Globe Baseball Classic from an particular person and a group standpoint, was all smiles upon returning to Red Sox camp on Friday.

Representing the Dominican Republic on an international stage for the initially time is something Devers will by no signifies overlook.

“It was a great expertise, a seriously great expertise for me,” Devers stated. “I’m very happy that I had the likelihood to represent my nation. The games had been very, very intense, very motivational for me, and I felt happy to be in a position to represent my nation.”

The Dominican Republic was favored by lots of to win the Classic but as an option got knocked out of Pool D with a two-two record, losing to Venezuela and Puerto Rico. Devers, who served as the cleanup hitter and DH for a squad that had Manny Machado at third base, went two-for-16 with two walks and no RBIs.

“Those products come about. I can go -for-20 or -for-30,” Devers stated. “That’s baseball. For me, I am confident about my capacity and what I can do, the products that I can do on the field. I am seriously calm. I am not seriously pondering as nicely a wonderful deal into it. It actually is not like I went two-for-16 and I forgot how to hit or a thing like that. It just occurred in that tournament. I nonetheless have the precise exact same self-assurance as just just before I left the camp.”

If the all round efficiency by Devers was forgettable, there had been elements of the expertise that the left-handed-hitting slugger will recall for a extended time. What stood out the most was the electric crowd in Miami.

“There was a moment specifically exactly where I could not hear any individual beside me,” Devers stated. “That’s a seriously fantastic moment for us as players, when you have so lots of people cheering for you and be as loud as they had been.”

Watching Machado — an elite defender at third base — go about his smaller enterprise was certainly a bonus for Devers.

“Of course I found a lot from Manny Machado. He’s a single of the most efficient third basemen, if not the most efficient third baseman, perfect now in the game,” Devers stated. “Just watching him going about his smaller enterprise and playing, you study a lot. It was a very great moment for me.”

The moments he got to bond with other stars from his nation was however one more perk of the expertise.

“It was a great expertise to be in a position to share a clubhouse with these guys, with [Juan] Soto, with Machado, with Jeremy Peña. These are guys that you would like to share your clubhouse with or your group with at any moment, and it was a seriously great expertise for me,” Devers stated.

Now that he is back in camp, the Red Sox want him to get the reps at third base that he missed while backing up Machado. Devers will commence Saturday’s dwelling game at the hot corner against the Orioles. Quickly immediately after a day off Sunday when the Red Sox go to Clearwater to play the Phillies, Devers will play the subsequent three days.

“Just for him to get his repetitions at third base is necessary for us. It is very necessary,” stated Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Today he took ground balls with [infield instructor] Carlos [Febles] on the back fields. As far as the at-bats, he’s most probably readier than any one particular else appropriate right here. Repetitions at third base — just standing up much more than there for five or six innings, seven innings — is necessary for his conditioning as nicely. Of course we’ve got him appropriate right here now, and we’ll make optimistic he’s ready for the season.”

Even even though Devers at the moment proved in the 2018 and ‘21 postseasons that he embraces playing on the massive stage, the Classic was a exclusive sort of exclusive for the 26-year-old.

“It wasn’t the most efficient a single for him definitely, but to be about these guys and speak to them and the way he talks about these games, the intensity from pitch a single all the way to the finish, it is a great studying expertise,” Cora stated. “It’s a entertaining a single, and [he] checked that box. We’ll see what happens [next World Baseball Classic], but at least he can say he represented his nation and now he’s with us.”