The Giants are 69-93 since Rafael Devers made his debut with the team last June
San Francisco Giants’ Rafael Devers throws his bat after hitting for a solo home run in the second innning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif.
, on Friday, May 8, 2026. SAN FRANCISCO — The veterans of the Giants’ clubhouse share an understanding of the business of baseball. Teammates come and teammates go. There are signings and trades, cuts and call-ups.
But the franchise-changing transaction that unfolded on June 15, 2025, is in a different category entirely. Exactly one year ago, president of baseball operations Buster Posey pulled off one of the most shocking trades in franchise history. Four players — Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, James Tibbs III and Jose Bello — to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Rafael Devers, one of baseball’s best bats. There were no rumors, no speculation, no murmurings.
Just a trade that has altered — and will continue to alter — the trajectory of this franchise for years to come.
“It was definitely a surprise,” said third baseman Matt Chapman. “It happens fast, I knew Buster wanted to get something done. I think that’s kind of the way he operates. ” The moment commanded celebration.
The future appeared bright. The Giants’ lineups hadn’t featured a power bat capable of consistently reaching 30 home runs and 100 RBIs since Barry Bonds retired after the 2007 season. A month before the 2025 trade deadline, Posey was adding a three-time All-Star to a team that was in first place in the NL West.
A year removed from acquiring Devers — and about $200 million remaining on his contract that runs through 2033 — the biggest trade in franchise history, let’s take a look at what’s happened over the last year, and try to forecast what lies ahead. Devers’ credentials at the time of the trade were hard to deny. From 2021-2024, Devers ranked 11th in home runs , 12th in slugging percentage and 14th in OPS among all major leaguers.
DeversAt the time of the trade, Devers was putting together another great season in Boston: a .272 batting average, .905 OPS and 15 homers while leading the American League in walks . The Giants, even with the splashy addition of free agent shortstop Willy Adames, still featured a below-average offense, entering the day of the trade ranked 20th in wRC+ , 23rd in OPS and 25th in batting average .
Over 162 games as a Giant, exactly a full season’s worth of games, Devers has hit .235/.323/.438 with 29 home runs and 84 RBIs. Among 140 qualified hitters, Devers ranks While Devers hit well in his first months as a Giant , Devers has effectively been a league-average hitter this season on the whole.
Devers is hitting .235/.293/.413 with nine homers over 72 games this season, but those numbers are primarily the product of an awful first month of the season. Since May began, Devers is hitting .256/.323/.438 and has been 29 percent better than a league-average hitter. One of the more concerning trends in Devers’ first full season as a Giant has been his sudden drop in walk rate. Devers’ 112 walks and 15.4 percent walk rate in 2025 were both career highs.
This season, Devers is on pace to draw only 50 walks, which would be his fewest in a full season since 2022. Devers is swinging more on pitches outside of the strike zone this season , but what really sticks out is the number of pitches Devers is seeing in the zone.
This season, 49.9 percent of the pitches Devers has seen have been in the strike zone, the highest since he was a rookie in 2017. Pitchers are challenging Devers more often, but he’s not making them pay as he did in Boston. Devers’ bat speed, despite a concerning first month, is effectively the same this season as it was last year, but it will only continue to fall as he ages. In 2023, Devers’ average bat speed was 73.4 mph.
It was down to 72.5 mph in 2024, then further fell to 71.6 mph in 2025. While Devers has at least been an above-average hitter since joining San Francisco, the team has been one of the worst in baseball.winning percentage in the majors in that timeframe. They were 41-30 on the day of the trade, right behind the Los Angeles Dodgers at the top of the NL West, but went 40-51 the rest of the way.
The Giants had chances to sneak into the playoffs despite trading several veterans at the trade deadline, but finished the season 81-81, two games out of a wild-card spot and costing Bob Melvin his job. Devers’ first full season in San Francisco hasn’t gone much better. Under new manager Tony Vitello, the Giants are 29-43 and are tied for the second-worst record in baseball with the Kansas City Royals.
They haven’t swept a team this year and their longest winning streak has been three games. The Giants’ lineup has finally started to mash following an anemic start to the season, but the pitching staff has been among the worst in the majors. San Francisco’s pitchers rank 22nd in ERA, 17th in FIP andin WAR entering Monday, and those struggles don’t come as a surprise given that the Giants’ brass didn’t make enough substantial moves to address areas of need.
Tyler Mahle might not be in the rotation when he returns from the injured list, while Adrian Houser may follow an opener due to his inconsistencies. Harrison Bader has already been placed on the injured list twice with different ailments as well. The only signing this offseason that has substantially impacted winning is second baseman Luis Arraez, who has shockingly become an excellent defender and is putting up the best season of his career.
The party that’s most benefited from this trade one year in has been neither the Giants nor the Red Sox, but in a roundabout way, the Milwaukee Brewers. Harrison made three appearances for Boston before being traded to Milwaukee in February, and with the Brewers, Harrison has had a season worthy of an All-Star appearance. Over 13 starts, Harrison is posting a 2.47 ERA with 80 strikeouts over 65 2/3 innings.
Earlier this month, Harrison matched his career-high of 12 strikeouts against his old team. The Devers era hasn’t gone according to plan since he arrived last June, both for himself and the team. San Francisco has locked itself into multiple long-term contracts between Devers, Adames, Chapman and Jung Hoo Lee, and the team’s hypothetical window to win is the present.
And while, the Giants still need to find ways to complement this core and maximize the remainder of their veterans’ primes.
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