There were plenty of questions about where Rafael Devers would play after being traded to the Giants, and manager Bob Melvin answered those during the slugger’s introductory press conference on Tuesday at Oracle Park.
“Yeah, we talked to [Devers] a little bit today and, like he said, he goes, ‘I’ll play wherever you want me to play. I’ll hit wherever you want me to hit.’ So that’s how it started,” Melvin told reporters. “He’s going to DH [Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians]. He’s going to hit in the three spot.
“We’re going to work with him and get him some ground balls at first and make sure he’s comfortable before we put him over there, and that’s pretty much the way we look at it right now — little bit of DH and a little bit of first.”
Devers hasn’t played in the field yet during the 2025 MLB season after losing his third-base job to Alex Bregman in Boston and then refusing to play first base for the Red Sox, smashing 15 home runs so far this year as his former team’s DH. But he said Tuesday he’s willing to do anything Melvin asks of him and is excited to do whatever it takes to help San Francisco win.
“I love the welcome that I got by my teammates,” Devers told reporters through Giants interpreter Erwin Higueros. “I feel really good — that really motivates me, and everybody I have talked to so far, they always talk about winning, winning, winning, so that’s another motivation for myself. …
“I can’t wait to start playing [at first base] … I’m eager to go out there and go play and see what I can do.”
Devers will have plenty of help transitioning to his new role at first base, one that he never has played in his entire professional baseball career. Melvin said Giants first base coach Mark Hallberg and third base coach Matt Williams, both former MLB infielders, will work with Devers, and there are plenty of San Francisco legends around the ballpark to lend their advice.
“We have guys around all the time,” Melvin told reporters. “Will Clark loves doing it… J.T. [Snow] was in spring training. We have plenty of guys to be able to have a resource over at first base. Look, if you can play third, you can play first, and [Devers has] done a great job at third before.
“So I don’t think it’s going to be too difficult for him, but I think more than anything the fact that he hasn’t played in the field this year, we have to take our time working him in. It’s a new position, so we’ll take it day to day.”
Devers eventually will be San Francisco’s everyday first baseman. But until then, he’ll contribute the best way he knows how — with his bat.
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