Rafael Devers made his MLB debut for the Boston Red Sox on July 25, 2017, in Seattle — the same city where his team headed without him almost eight years later, after word came down that Devers had been traded from the Red Sox to the San Francisco Giants. Devers was on that plane, according to a report by The Athletic, but was pulled off when news of the trade was announced to the team Sunday night.
As his suddenly former teammates got ready to fly to the city where he began his remarkable career, Devers climbed, alone, into an Uber that drove him back from the airport to Fenway Park, where he cleaned out his locker for the final time.
For his entire career — outside of those three months in the season when he made his debut, and the 60 games of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season — Devers had one manager.
Cora Became a Mentor to the Young Devers
Alex Cora, a former journeyman shortstop who played for the Red Sox from 2005 through 2008, took over the Red Sox in 2018 and immediately led the team to 108 wins and a World Series championship.
Devers played an important role in that historic Red Sox season, taking over the third base position and belting 21 home runs in his first full year. He hit another homer in the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, and drove in nine runs in the postseason.
Cora, a native of Puerto Rico, took the 21-year-old from the Dominican Republic, who spoke little English at that time, under his wing, encouraging Devers to grow into his role as a clubhouse leader and by 2024, the face of the Boston Red Sox franchise — the team’s longest-tenured and highest-paid player.
The personal relationship between the manager and player grew strained this season, however, over Devers’ refusal to willingly change positions to meet team needs and his public criticism of the organization’s front office.
After the trade that ended Devers’ Red Sox career, Cora took to his personal Instagram account to deliver a simple, one-word message to his former protege.
“Gracias.”
He tagged @rafael.devers in the Instagram post, to be sure that Devers would see it.
Red Sox Signed Devers in 2013 as a 16-Year-Old
The stunning and, for Red Sox Fans, infuriating trade drew to a close a 12-year saga that began in 2013, when the Red Sox signed Devers as a 16-year-old kid out of the Dominican.
The signing was a relatively big deal. In a year when only 10 International players received bonuses of $1 million or more, the Red Sox handed Devers a bonus of $1.5 million.
Scouts rated him the best left-handed hitter in the year’s international free agent class, while Baseball America made him the No. 3 overall international prospect and MLB Pipeline had him at No. 6.
About a month after his promotion to the Majors in 2017, Devers opened eyes throughout MLB when he blasted a ninth-inning, game-tying home run off New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman — a lefty fireballer who threw Devers a 102.8 mph fastball.
But Devers turned on it and drove it out of the park. It was only the second home run Chapman had allowed to a lefty in his career to that point, and the first since 2011.
In 2025, Chapman and Devers became teammates on the Red Sox — a relationship that ended Sunday when Devers got off the team plane and into an Uber.
Red Sox Manager Alex Cora Sends One-Word Message to Rafael Devers