Rafael Devers’ brilliant season has come to a close, as has his quest for 40 home runs. On Sunday, ahead of their series finale against the San Diego Padres, the San Francisco Giants announced that their star slugger is headed to the Injured List with a season-ending core muscle injury.
According to the Giants, Devers has been dealing with the injury for most of the season, and will meet with a specialist. Like Matt Chapman, who also had a core muscle injury, Devers could be headed for surgery, though he should have plenty of time to heal up before Spring Training.
Devers ends his first full season with the Giants with a stunning .258/.340/.525 slash line, good for a 135 wRC+ and 3.4 fWAR. Those numbers are even more stunning when you remember just how bad he was slumping to start the season; but since May 1, Devers has been third among all qualified Major League hitters in both OPS (.953) and wRC+ (157). He trails only MVP favorites Pete Crow-Armstrong and Yordan Alvarez in both categories, and also is eighth in the Majors in fWAR during that time (4.1).
The injury will keep Devers from achieving a trio of notable benchmarks, as he ends the year with 37 home runs, 36 doubles, and 98 runs batted in.
Taking Devers’ spot on the roster is outfielder Scott Bandura, who has been called up for his MLB debut. No additional corresponding move was made, as Devers was placed on the 60-Day IL to create a 40-man roster spot for Bandura.
Bandura, who was drafted by the Giants in the seventh round in 2023, has had a spectacular breakout season. The 25-year old lefty, who played college ball at Princeton, started the year with AA Richmond, but was promoted to AAA Sacramento early in the year. After a slow start with the River Cats, Bandura caught absolute fire, and ends his AAA tenure having hit .318/.398/.492 (134 wRC+) with 10 home runs in 94 games. Bandura played quality defense at all three outfield spots with Sacramento, and stole 24 bases in 26 attempts. While this move makes the Giants roster even more crowded — they have 56 players on the 40-man roster — Bandura had played his way into Rule 5 protection, so he was going to need to be added to the roster in the coming months regardless.
Many fans will be wondering why the Giants opted for Bandura over Bo Davidson, but Davidson suffered a mild injury a few games ago after fouling a pitch off his foot.
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