David Ortiz Sends Message About Red Sox' Rafael Devers Situation

The Boston Red Sox have one of the best sluggers in baseball in Rafael Devers.

Devers was asked to move from third base to designated hitter in Spring Training and although there was some drama with that, he has arguably been the best designated hitter in the American League. Devers has appeared in a league-high 61 games and is slashing .286/.408/.515 with 12 home runs, 52 RBIs, 47 walks, 16 doubles, and 37 runs scored. His 52 RBIs and 47 walks also are both leading the American League.

When Triston Casas went down with his season-ending knee injury, the question popped up about Devers making another move to first base. The team approached him about a position change and then some more drama ensued.

Team legend and Hall of Famer David Ortiz weighed in on the situation on Monday in a video shared to social media by WEEI's Rob Bradford.

"Devers is doing great," Ortiz said. "As we asked him to do, you know, moving from third base. I thought he was going to have a hard time moving to DH because as simple as you look, when you're not hitting, it's like you aren't doing anything. So, he had a rough start the first couple of weeks but then, he's killing it right now. You don't want to mess that up. Casas went down. If I was him, I would've put myself available for anything, but that was me.

"He was a third baseman who was asked to be a DH and now all of a suddent you want him to play first base. You have to give him some time to learn, if he wants to because he's doing great as a DH. I don't want to mess that up. You're leading the league in RBIs...that's a good thing. We can not just rush a guy whenever we feel like. He's an important piece for this organization. He's doing what he was asked for...I think he should think about what would be better for the organization -- him at first or him at DH -- and go from there."