David Ortiz talks Rafael Devers
ARLINGTON, Texas - Nine years ago, David Ortiz had a dream-come-true moment. He got a chance to ask billionaire Warren Buffett for his favorite piece of advice. Buffett didn't disappoint.
"The first thing he told me was: Don’t you ever make a decision when you’re happy or said or angry. Wait until you go back to your normal emotion, your normal feeling, and then you make the decision. Every time you make an emotional decision 99 percent it’s the wrong decision. He said that nine years ago and it made so much sense. That’s exactly how it is," Ortiz said. "Not many of us know how to manage that. I’m not saying that is Devers’ situation, but ie’s a human thing."
"Devers" is, of course, Rafael Devers. The player who is waking up Thursday for Opening Day as the Red Sox' full-time designated hitter.
Just more than a month before, Devers clearly wasn't privy to Buffet's advice, offering a matter-of-fact press conference in which he definitively proclaimed he was not a DH. That was his decision. Now? It is what it is, and what it is is the end result most believed was inevitable.
Ultimately, the proclamation by Cora was the one of the most predictable pieces of the Red Sox' Opening Day landscape considering Devers never played a single inning at third base throughout all of spring training.
The 28-year-old - and everybody around him - knew this would be the outcome for some time, which is why preparations to live the DH life had been started to be put in place.
"I’m ready to start the season. I’m feeling good," Devers told WEEI.com through translator Daveson Perez. "No difference (in preparing for at-bats as a DH). I have the same sequence that I always do to go out there and hit. Nothing changes.
"I’m excited to get going. Spring training is way too long."
We're going to find out if it was long enough.
Devers can downplay his new existence as a baseball player, but there will undoubtedly be adjustments, both mentally and physically. As Cora noted, "They all find their routines. I hear a lot of people say, ‘Not everybody can do it.’ Well, you know what? Every DH has played a position before. You don’t come to the big leagues as a DH. You’re playing somewhere and then you’re the DH. I think the 30 DHs have found their routine."
True. But the question is how long will it take to uncover that sweet spot when it comes to existing solely as a hitter?
Ortiz could socialize up in the clubhouse in between at-bats. Justin Turner would lift weights. And then there was J.D. Martinez, who was forced to morph from outfield to the team's primary DH upon signing with the Red Sox in 2018. All he wanted to do was hit and hit and hit. Different strokes. Different folks.
"A lot of it is trial and error as we get going and we get going to what he’s comfortable with," said Red Sox hitting coach Pete Fatse of Devers.
"I think the key is staying connected with the game. That is what you have to find a balance with. It’s easy to have your at-bat and typically be ready to go out to defense. But now you have to stay connected to the game, talking the game. Being present when the moment is there. If you have a tough at-bat maybe you need to detach. I think it’s trial and error as we get going. We have a really good relationship so it’s more just bouncing ideas off each other. I think we won’t know until we get going into the season. We just have to keep building the routines."
That brings us back to Ortiz.
The Hall of Famer was relatively the same age as Devers when he started to see his identity change, slowly going from one of the Red Sox' first base options in 2003 to the team's primary DH. For the first three months that season, Ortiz played first in 30 games while DHing just 18 times. After that, he was a designated hitter for 68 games, while manning for 15 games (the last time in the field coming on Sept. 1).
After a similar initial sting to what Devers is experiencing, Ortiz figured out why this might be the best. There were the results, with the slugger hitting .311 with an 1.089 OPS as a DH in 2003. And there was the reality.
"I came in with the mentality of playing first base. I didn’t come in with the mentality of being a full-time DH. But, guess what? I was the type of player that as long I can can hurt you and win games I was going to do whatever it takes," Ortiz explained.
"It didn’t take me long. But my mentality is different than a lot of people. One thing I wanted to do was hit. I wanted to be in that lineup no matter what. I just wanted to hit. And when it came down to us having players were were capable of playing (first base), I was focused on doing my thing, which was hitting. I knew the team was going to be better having those guys out there. But not everybody is me. I can’t look at Devers and say, ‘I did it, why can’t everybody?’ Everybody is different. Now, what I can tell you is switching positions is not an easy thing to do, especially when you are on one angle of the field. Devers is going down that path. That’s all he knows, playing third base."
Not anymore.
Devers has started 984 major league games. Just 20 of them as been as a designated hitter. Thursday, against the Rangers' Nathan Eovaldi, he gets No. 21.
The surprise is gone. Now comes Rafael Devers' new reality.
"At some point before the season begins everything is going to be lined up the way we expect," Ortiz said earlier in spring training. "I think we’re going to have great communication with Devers. There is always a process. He will understand where we’re at and what is going to make us better because he wants to win. He’s a winner. The way he carries himself on the field every day shows that."