FORT MYERS, Fla. — When Rafael Devers arrived in spring training, he drove into the Red Sox complex he’d known since he was a teenager. He walked along the sidewalk he’d followed as a low-level minor leaguer. He turned into the major-league clubhouse where he’d prepared for most of his career.

Devers had shared that space with countless friends and mentors. The room was familiar. In the hallway outside its double doors, his picture hung on the wall, a giant canvas of Devers celebrating a home run as his bat slammed to the ground. He knew his way around.

Advertisement

But this year, Devers walked into the actual locker room and found his name above a different locker. The one in the corner with the extra shelves and cabinets. It was the spring training suite that once belonged to J.D. Martinez, and Dustin Pedroia, and David Ortiz. Devers didn’t know the locker would be his until he arrived at JetBlue Park last month.

“He was almost embarrassed,” clubhouse manager Tom McLaughlin said.

By the end of spring training, Devers had not even halfway filled the extra space. He used it for a few spare batting gloves, a couple of shoe boxes, and a small Bluetooth speaker. In the past, some players have brought giant boomboxes into that clubhouse. Devers brought the kind of speaker he might keep in a bathroom. It suited him.

Devers is joyful, but he’s not loud. He’s accomplished but not boisterous. He’s a baseball superstar with a massive contract, a potentially iconic career trajectory, and an easy, boyish smile that’s endeared him to seemingly every player, coach and executive who’s ever known him. Yet he remains unsatisfied — forever changed, but somehow still the same.

“If I would come here with a different personality or a different mood, that’s not something that I am,” Devers said. “I feel really comfortable here. … I’m really doing what I love, and that’s why I’m always happy. That’s why I cannot change who I am.”

His life, of course, is different. Signed at 16 as one of the most promising players in the world, Devers spent the past decade living up to that potential. This offseason, he was rewarded with an 11-year, $331 million deal that is the largest contract in Red Sox history. Ortiz and Pedroia have retired. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts are on different teams. Devers is the new centerpiece of the Red Sox organization. He’s earned a little more square footage in the clubhouse.

Advertisement

But teammate Bobby Dalbec noted that Devers arrived in camp still driving the same car.

“He’s the same kid,” manager Alex Cora said. “With a lot of money.”

Young players rarely say much. They might have a youthful edge and exuberance, but especially in a veteran clubhouse of accomplished players, there tends to be an understood pecking order. The young guys, even the really good ones, wait their turn.

Even by those standards, though, Devers arrived on the scene fully content to perform in the spotlight while living in the shadows.

“I’ve never met a lot of rookies that come over and talk, talk all the time,” Bogaerts said. “But he was definitely quiet.”

And he was paying attention.

“He’s a good kid,” Bogaerts said. “He always wanted to learn, eager to learn.”

Potential and possibility have always driven Devers. In his earliest days in the big leagues, he could become despondent after a costly error, and he often cursed at himself after a bad swing. He wasn’t always in the best shape. He reached the big leagues at age 20 and played in the World Series at 21, but he wasn’t immediately an impact player. He was occasionally platooned in 2018, and he finished that season as a below-average big-league hitter.

The next year, though, he led the league in doubles. He committed himself to offseason training, and his performance followed suit. He’s been a top-15 MVP finisher three of the past four seasons. By OPS+ and wRC+, last season was the best of his career.

“Every spring training these last couple years, he’s been showing up in great shape, man,” Bogaerts said. “Sometimes you have to make sacrifices, you know? You want to be with your family, but sometimes you need to work on yourself also for the regular season.”

When he signed the extension in January, Devers threw a party at his home in the Dominican Republic. He celebrated the money for his family and the stability for his career. But in his mind, Devers said, there’s little connection between those things and his performance on the field. His contract and his status mean nothing when he gets in the box, or takes his place in the field, or moves his things into a spring training locker. He dismissed the notion that his new contract — and the absence of former teammates like Bogaerts and Martinez, and his growing importance within the organization — would have any impact, good or bad, on his own expectations and the pressure to achieve his goals.

Advertisement

“Of course the life off the field changed,” Devers said. “(It was) a life-changing contract. … Everything off the field, is taken care of, (but) it doesn’t put pressure off me or take any weight off me. I still feel like I need to perform. I still need to be that guy.”

Justin Turner signed with the Red Sox this offseason and said he was specifically looking forward to playing with Devers. Turner has been one of the game’s best third basemen, and so he wanted to see Devers up close. Turner was assigned a locker near Devers in the spring training clubhouse.

And Turner was halting when he tried to explain what he’d seen. He didn’t want his words to have any sort of negative connotation, because he didn’t mean them that way. When Devers left Red Sox camp to DH for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, Turner understood the personal pride that Devers felt in playing for his home country. He knew Devers wanted to be there, and he understood why.

But Turner had also seen the way Devers showed up by 8 every morning to take groundballs at third base, hellbent on continuing to fight his reputation as a defensive liability. Turner knew Devers wanted to play in the WBC, but the way he was working every single morning …

“It almost felt like he would have rather been here so he could get his work in,” Turner said. “Just a testament to the type of player he is. Most people, they get that big deal, that life-changing deal where they’re set, they let off the gas a little bit. And it seems like he’s more motivated to prove that he deserves it (rather) than saying, ‘I got it, I’m good.’ Which is special.”

Devers is quiet, but he’s not silent. He jokes often with his teammates, and he laughs easily. He’s had the nickname Carita — which means, baby face — since he was a kid, and his smile is as powerful and recognizable as his swing. He’s grown more comfortable and confident making small talk in English, which has expanded the reach of his personality. When he has something to say, he says it. When it’s time to lead, he shows the way.

“He’s been very vocal about, we’re here but it takes 26 guys to accomplish this,” Cora said. “It’s not just me or my voice or what I do. (He) leads a certain way, and it’s more by example, but he hasn’t changed. He’s been a leader for us the past two years.”

Advertisement

More than one person around the Red Sox said they noticed Devers spending more time with younger players this spring. Ceddanne Rafaela and Enmanuel Valdez were specifically mentioned. Frankly, at 26, Devers is not much older than they are.

“I’m trying to talk to them, not in a way that they’ll feel like I’m bigger than them,” Devers said. “Just, on the same level, as a friend, and in a language they can understand and take it as a motivation.”

Devers might not have changed, but he certainly recognizes that his status has shifted. His responsibilities are different. It’s harder to live in the shadows when he’s casting the biggest one.

“One of the things he gave me as advice when we were talking is that you have to respect the game,” Valdez said. “Play with your head down and good things will happen. That’s one of the things I keep in the back of my mind, and that’s the model I’m trying to go by.”

There are many ways to trace Red Sox history, but one is through the lineage of great left-handed hitters. Tris Speaker, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Wade Boggs, Mo Vaughn, David Ortiz. The big left-handed bats rarely overlapped, but each successful era seemed to have one. And after Ortiz played his last game in 2016, Devers arrived the very next year to continue to the chain.

Ortiz and Devers are bonded by nationality and franchise history. They’re linked by offensive ability. Ortiz said this spring he was planning to get “a little more involved” with Devers going forward. The two are connected.

But they’re radically different.

With the flash and the voice and the “this is our f—— city,” Ortiz became the face of the Red Sox franchise his own way. It was perfect for him. But it’s not for Devers. The Baby Face wouldn’t want to do it the Big Papi way.

“No,” Devers said, laughing at the very notion. “David is big with the media and big with social media. I’m not. I don’t really feel really comfortable with media — with all due respect — and with social media.

Advertisement

“But within the clubhouse, within my comfort zone, I’m that guy. I’m a happy guy. I love to be around my teammates. If there’s something I don’t really enjoy or don’t really like, I’m not going to feel happy (doing it). That’s something I’m trying to avoid.”

Sometimes, the discomfort will become unavoidable. It comes with the territory. Devers won’t be able to stay in his preferred lane every day for more than a decade. But he can handle it in his own way. He can have the pressure come from within, and let the meaningful expectations be his own.

“Knowing him,” bench coach Ramon Vázquez said, “I don’t think he’s going to be one of those guys who’s like, ‘They paid me, now I have to produce.’ I think it’s more like, I can be myself. I can just go out there and have fun and do what I do.”

That’s all the Red Sox are asking.

“We just want him to be him,” Cora said.

Devers is grateful. His contract extension was life-changing, and he knows that. But the bulk of his career is still in front of him, and there’s so much more he wants to do. Why change now when he’s just getting started?

“He’s not a guy who would do that,” Dalbec said. “He’s too good a dude.”

Sitting at his oversized locker this spring, Devers laughed and smiled and talked about some of the things that are new in his life. But he talked mostly about all of the things that aren’t.

“I just feel happy,” he said. “And just can’t wait for the season to start.”

(Top photo: Maddie Malhotra / Boston Red Sox / Getty Images)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k2xsb29jZ3xzfJFsZmlrX2h9cL7An5iepF2Zsrex0axkqKiVo7avs4ydmLJlnJqupbHRaA%3D%3D