Red Sox Rookie Defends Rafael Devers Over Rumor: 'That Was False'

Boston Red Sox rookie Kristian Campbell came to the defense of Rafael Devers on Friday.

The former Red Sox slugger Devers, as we all know, was just traded to the San Francisco Giants, and one of the alleged reasons for his departure was that he reportedly refused to play first base for Boston.

Campbell, now with Triple-A Worcester Red Sox, found himself implicated in the Devers drama over the past few weeks.

Among the various media narratives swirling about Devers is that he was upset when Campbell offered to play first base after Devers himself refused to.

On Friday, WBZ’s Dan Roche asked Campbell about that situation inside a Triple-A dugout, and Campbell said that the story was false on multiple accounts.

“That was false,” Campbell said, per MassLive’s Katie Morrison-O’Day.

“First off, Raffy never came to me. I never had a problem with it. We were always cool. He’s an extremely great player. He’s an extremely great person. He’s a very kind person and a good teammate.”

“Second, I would say I never went to the Red Sox (to ask) to play first base,” Campbell continued. “They came to me and asked me if I could play first base because we didn’t have any (first basemen) at the time — that’s when (Triston) Casas went down, and I said I would do it because it would make the team better and I would be willing to learn a position. That’s basically how it went down.”

So there you have it, straight from the source.

In case you were under the impression that Devers was upset at Campbell for “slighting him” by offering to play first, you can now rest assured that nothing of the sort ever took place.

What other Devers rumors will be debunked in the coming days, months, and years?

Time will tell.