Two Hundred Fifty for the Kid from Sánchez

Sánchez

The family horse had one bad leg and no name, and Rafael Devers rode it to the baseball field at six in the morning and came home around four in the afternoon. His mother, Lucrecia Garcia, called it dangerous. He was one of ten children in Sánchez, Dominican Republic — three boys, seven girls — and his nickname was Carita, baby face, because he smiled constantly.

Scouts who evaluated him as an amateur praised his competitiveness and his makeup. The Boston Red Sox signed him at sixteen for a $1.5 million bonus in August 2013. MLB.com ranked him the sixth-best international prospect available, and some evaluators considered him the best left-handed hitter on the market. He debuted on July 25, 2017, and spent nine seasons in Boston, winning a World Series in 2018, making three All-Star teams and earning two Silver Sluggers. He joined San Francisco in 2025.

Two Hundred Fifty

On June 30, 2026, Devers hit his 250th career home run. He was twenty-nine, ten seasons in. The total stands at 260, with 318 doubles, 816 runs batted in, and a .503 slugging percentage across 1,267 games and 4,877 at-bats. This season he has played 124 games and hit 25 home runs for the Giants.

When one of his two daughters was born, he delayed reporting to spring training to be at the delivery. He called the experience more important than baseball. Through his foundation he has donated three ambulances to hospitals serving Sánchez and the surrounding communities of Samaná and Las Terrenas.

He is twenty-nine, playing first base for the San Francisco Giants.

Reporting: MassLive, MLB.com, Wikipedia. Career and biographical data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.