Rafael Devers was incredible for SF Giants, but will injury impact him next season?

Notoriously a slow starter every season, plenty of SF Giants fans were calling for Rafael Devers' metaphorical head over the first couple months of the season - or at least for some of the money owed to him to be eaten in exchange for some other team taking him off San Francisco's hands. Instead, Devers did what he's always done, which is heat up as the season went on.

The power numbers became astronomical for a hitter in Oracle Park. 37 home runs is the most any Giants hitter not named Barry Bonds has hit over a full season since the Giants moved to Oracle Park. That total was only one shy of his career-high of 38 back in 2021, and with the torrid pace he was hitting them (seven home runs already in September), it seemed a given he would reach the illustrious milestone of 40. He was also just two measly RBI away from being the first Giant to 100 in a season since Buster Posey himself did it in 2012.

Losing Rafael Devers is a blow, but he'll be back next year

Unfortunately, the Giants aren't allowed to have any nice things this year. Devers looked to be in pain running the bases in his final game on Saturday, and sure enough, the Giants announced the next day that they were prematurely ending his season as a result of a left side core muscle injury. It's amazing that he was still able to be as productive as he was while not at full strength. He underwent surgery on the ailment Tuesday in Philadelphia.

Devers is one of a whopping 21 Giants currently on the IL, and he's not even the only one to have undergone core muscle surgery. Matt Chapman also went under the knife in August. The rehab time for the surgery is typically 8 to 12 weeks, so the good news is both Chapman and Devers should have enough time to ramp up for spring training. Whether spring training will start on time, of course, is still an open question depending on if there is a lockout over the offseason.

What do players normally look like in the year following core muscle surgery? We can only draw anecdotal conclusions about how undergoing the procedure can effect player performance the following year, since there are obviously many other immeasurable variables to consider of why players can have different year-over-year numbers.

One cautionary tale is Austin Riley, who had season-ending core surgery back in August 2025. He has stayed off the injured list this year, playing in 150 games for the Braves so far, but his numbers have been well short of his career averages. Riley is slashing just .221/.295/.364 (82 wRC+) this year, in the third year of a 10-year, $212 million deal. It's worth noting, however, that this is the fourth straight year that Riley's numbers have been in decline, so blaming this years' performance solely on his surgery would be unwise.

Devers has been a durable figure through most of his career, even playing in 163 games last year, which was only possible since he appeared in games for the Red Sox as well as the Giants. He's perennially a slow starter, though, including an abysmal April and subpar May before beginning to heat up in June onwards.

If this surgery and the upcoming labor negotiations conspire to make this an irregular offseason for Devers, it's possible that his typical slow start to the regular season may be exacerbated - but by the end of the year, he always seems to find a way to finish with above-average production. He hasn't yet reached his 30th birthday, so there's no reason to expect Devers won't be the same guy he's always been heading into next year.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow