San Francisco Giants slugger Rafael Devers’ season — and his pursuit of 40 homers — is done after he was placed on the 60-day injured list with a core muscle injury that the team said he has been managing through much of the year.
It’s a surprising development, considering the tear he has been on at the plate, including 11 homers over the past 18 games. Two over the past two games against the Padres brought his total to 37. He also has a team-high 98 RBIs, the most by a Giants player since now-top baseball executive Buster Posey had 103 in 2012.
Devers “chose to keep playing through” the injury, the team said in a statement Sunday. “He will visit Dr. William Meyers in Philadelphia tomorrow for further evaluation. If recommended, he will undergo a procedure the following day.”
Meyers performed third baseman Matt Chapman’s recent core muscle surgery. Chapman said after his surgery that his rehab was expected to take two to three months.
Giants manager Tony Vitello said that Devers has been dealing with the issue going back years and the training staff had worked hard to determine precisely what was happening; core injuries can be difficult to diagnose.
As for the timing, the Giants wanted to ensure he has enough of a runway to be fully ready for next season and also in order to begin rehab with team doctors and training staff. Left unsaid: When there is a labor stoppage, players cannot use team medical facilities nor work with team training staff.
Vitello said that this was about the latest date Devers could have any core-muscle procedure and still get in the amount of rehab work with team medical staff that the Giants would like him to have.
“We kind of pushed it to the brink, time-wise,” Vitello said.
Devers’ ability to play every day and at a high level despite a lingering core injury, Vitello said, “Blew my mind. … Just relentless.”
Devers was not available for comment because he was en route to Philadelphia.
Outfielder Scott Bandura, 25, has been called up from Triple-A Sacramento to fill Devers’ roster spot. Bandura, a Princeton grad who is from Philadelphia, was a seventh-round pick in 2023 and he was batting .318 with 10 homers with the River Cats. He will make his big-league debut Sunday at the DH spot, batting fifth against San Diego.
Bandura figured that Sunday he’ll be playing in front of the largest crowd he’s seen since leading off the Little League World Series. He was on the same team as Mo’ne Davis, and they’re still friends — she’s going to try to come see him play in St Louis this week. Bandura said his parents, Steve and Robin, flew from Philadelphia for his debut and he also expects seven or eight friends to attend.
The Giants now have an astonishing 16 men on the 60-day IL and they will also have to add another player or two to the 40-man roster to avoid the Rule-5 draft, making for a boatload of difficult decisions after the season as the team trims back down to 40 players.