Notes: Devers wows in BP; Eovaldi set to go

July 20th, 2020

BOSTON -- If there had been video of the batting-practice smash that hit on Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park, it would have gone viral.

Unfortunately, it happened before media access started, so we’ll have to go by eyewitness accounts.

While broadcasting the intrasquad game on the Red Sox Twitter account on Sunday night, Dave O’Brien said that hitting coach Tim Hyers mentioned to him that Devers smashed a baseball off of Pedro Martinez’s retired No. 45 in BP.

In the history of Fenway Park, it is believed that Carl Yastrzemski is the only player to hit one off the right-field façade, which is believed to be about 500 feet from home plate. Yaz did it on June 19, 1977, against Yankees right-hander Dick Tidrow.

So, did Devers really hit the façade on Sunday?

“I don’t know if that’s true,” Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. “I heard it was off of 34 [retired for David Ortiz], so yes, that is true.”

In additional news regarding Devers, Roenicke expects the big slugger to bat second for the most part this season. However, there could be times when Roenicke tries to split projected leadoff hitter Andrew Benintendi and Devers against left-handed starters.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to move him around against lefties or righties. When he’s swinging it, he hits everybody,” Roenicke said. “We’ll see what we’re doing with Benny, whether Benny will lead off against everybody, and I think we’ll just kind of watch and see what we have and see how it goes with those guys.”

Nate tunes up sharply
had a productive final tune-up before his Opening Day start on Friday, tossing 5 2/3 innings in Sunday's intrasquad game while allowing two runs on four hits and striking out five. He threw 90 pitches, 55 of them for strikes.

With Chris Sale (Tommy John surgery) out for the season and Eduardo Rodriguez starting the season late after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this month, Eovaldi will pitch the opener for the first time in his career.

“It’s going to be my first one, so I’m definitely excited for it,” Eovaldi said. “I’ll take it any way I can get it, so I’m excited for it, ready for it.”

Let the kids play
Roenicke is going to give nearly all of his regulars the day off for Monday night’s final intrasquad game, though Michael Chavis is likely to get some at-bats. The Red Sox have their only two exhibition games of Summer Camp on Tuesday and Wednesday, when the Blue Jays visit Fenway Park.

With the regulars getting some rest, it will be an opportunity for the Red Sox to evaluate two of their top prospects.

Jeter Downs, Boston's No. 1 prospect per MLB Pipeline, will come up from Pawtucket (the Red Sox alternate training site) and play at Fenway Park for the first time. Speedy Jarren Duran, Boston’s No. 8 prospect, will also play. And the third prospect coming up from Pawtucket for the day is left-handed power hitter Josh Ockimey.

The Red Sox acquired Downs, along with right fielder Alex Verdugo and catcher Connor Wong, in the blockbuster deal that sent Mookie Betts and David Price to the Dodgers this past offseason.

Monday's intrasquad game will start at 7 p.m. ET and again be streamed live on the Red Sox Twitter account.

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Supervising Club Reporter Ian Browne has covered the Red Sox for MLB.com since 2002.