Third base problems continue and top prospect Rafael Devers is still 'a ways away' from majors


Pablo Sandoval, Marco Hernandez, Brock Holt, Josh Rutledge and Deven Marrero, the list goes on and on as Boston is searching for answers regarding third base as they seemingly cannot get any production either offensively or defensively from this position.
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In 2017,  Boston's third baseman have hit a whopping .219 this season with 13 errors on 100 total chances. 

As it seems almost hopeless that Boston can find any solution to its problem unless Dom Dombrowski makes another ridiculous trade to acquire a third baseman, Boston has its hope down in the minors with top prospect Rafael Devers, who is unfortunately "a ways away" from the majors.

The twenty year old Devers, who is seen grinning with braces in his organizational photo, looks even younger than Andrew Benintendi did towards the end of last season. However, even though Devers seems to be progressing and performing just as well as Benintendi did last year, the Red Sox aren't in any hurry to bring up their savior at third base.

Red Sox assistant general manager, Eddie Romero was on WEEI's Rob Bradford's podcast the "Brad Fo Show" and was asked regarding any comparison to Benintendi's call up to Devers. "I agree with that,” said Romero when it was suggested that Benintendi’s scenario was different than Devers because of age and experience. “Benny has played through high school and then he had his two years of college at a major school in probably the best conference of college baseball. Where Raffy comes from the riskiest and hardest to project and the market where he have the least experience before being thrown into professional baseball. We have to remember, he’s still 20 years old. He won’t be 21 until after the season.

Devers, who is slashing .330 with 7 homers and 22 runs batted in playing at Double A Portland, could probably do decently well vs major league pitching right now. His ability to use the whole field and have some pop in his bat is something you don't see in too many kids at that age.

Devers defense, who had been a tad questionable throughout his development, has made great strides over the last two seasons as his fielding percentage is up from .905 to .960 last season.

So the question will remain, how long is Devers away from manning third base at Fenway Park? 

Ryan Spagnoli
Contributing Writer
Follow me on Twitter: @Ryan_Spags