Give the new guy some time.
Bob Melvin, talking to KNBR’s “Murph and Markus” on Friday, shot down the idea of Rafael Devers playing first base in the Giants’ three-game series against the Boston Red Sox at Oracle Park.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen this weekend,” San Francisco’s manager told Brian Murphy and Markus Boucher. “We haven’t gotten there. … It’s going to take a little bit more time than having him at first base during the Red Sox series.”
With our All Access Daily newsletter, stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams!
SIGN UP HERE Devers was moved to designated hitter during the 2025 MLB season after playing third base for the first eight years of his big-league career to make way for Alex Bregman, whom the Red Sox signed to a three-year, $120 million free-agent contract this past offseason. Boston later asked Devers to move to first base after Triston Casas suffered a ruptured left patellar tendon in early May, which Devers refused.
But the three-time MLB All-Star appears to be open to whatever Melvin and president of baseball operations Buster Posey envision for him, especially with star Matt Chapman manning third when he’s healthy and top prospect Bryce Eldridge and key veterans Wilmer Flores and Dominic Smith often playing first.
“There’s time for everybody,” Melvin explained to Murphy and Boucher. “I mean, certainly, Raffy’s going to be in there and agreeing to play first base, and we’ll be working on that here for several days before we feel comfortable running him out there. Once he does that, we can get [Wilmer Flores] back into the DH spot, where he’s been so productive.
“In the interim, Flo’s going to play a bit more first – he will tonight [Friday against the Boston Red Sox at Oracle Park] – and we’ll mix [Dominic Smith] in there, too.”
Melvin added that, regardless of who plays where at whatever point, the Giants will have a “real professional hitter on the bench that can pick up a big at-bat” like Flores, who has flourished in key moments repeatedly in 2025 and throughout his six-year San Francisco tenure.
Devers has a ways to go before he can comfortably switch corners at first. And Melvin suggested that the organization and Devers understand that patience is required, especially as the two-time Silver Slugger award winner is attempting to learn a new position mid-season in a new city.
“The hard part is, doing it during the season is difficult,” Melvin told Murphy and Boucher. “You can’t really simulate game stuff. The easy part is going to be fielding grounders and throwing the baseball. The hard part is where do you go for cut-offs, your first time at first base stretching, or bunt plays, other side of the diamond, different spins from lefties …”
The wait for Devers should be well worth it. He is one of baseball’s top bats and already looks comfortable as a Giant, with three hits in three games.
After all, San Francisco’s newfound partnership with Devers -- which is scheduled to run through 2033, as part of the 10-year, $313.5 million contract extension he signed with Boston during the 2023 offseason -- only will improve as the offensive juggernaut expands his defensive versatility.
“There’s going to be a little bit of a process in getting him ready, but he’s all in,” Melvin told Murphy and Boucher. “And like I said, if you can field the ball and throw the ball at third base – similar to Casey Schmitt, who picked it up quickly over at first – we feel like that transition will happen.”
It would’ve been something to see Devers play first against his old Red Sox, though.