Watch: Rafael Devers becomes youngest player to reach 200 home runs with Red Sox
He's the 31st player ever with 200 HRs before age 28.
Rafael Devers made history Sunday, becoming the first player to reach 200 home runs with the Red Sox before turning 28.
Devers blasted a no-doubter to straightaway center off Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly in the fourth inning, giving Boston a 4-0 advantage on a mammoth, 399-foot, three-run shot.
The home run was, coincidentally, Devers’ 28th of the season. His high mark so far came in 2021, when he hit 38 homers.
Devers is the 11th player to hit 200 home runs for the Red Sox. The youngest to do so before him was Jim Rice, who recorded his 200th blast at 28 years and 62 days.
He’s the 31st player ever with 200 HRs before age 28. The only other active players are Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, and Giancarlo Stanton.
Devers is the 10th player all-time, age 27 or younger, with at least 200 homers, 250 doubles, and an .850 OPS, joining Trout, Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Hank Aaron, Hal Trosky, Jimmie Foxx, and Mel Ott.
Devers trails only Ted Williams, David Ortiz, Carl Yastrzemski, Rice, Dwight Evans, Manny Ramirez, Mo Vaughn, Bobby Doerr, Foxx, and Rico Petrocelli in home runs with the Red Sox.
It’s worth noting that Williams had 127 home runs over four years at age 24 in 1942 before serving in World War II and returning in 1946.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly listed the Korean War, not World War II, as the war in which Williams missed time between 1942 and 1946. Williams served his country in both wars, and was selected into the active reserves for Korea in 1952.
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