Why SF Giants star acquisition Rafael Devers is striking out so much

Star SF Giants acquisition Rafael Devers has been with the club for over two months, and he still has a strikeout rate north of 30 percent. His career strikeout rate sits at 21.8 percent, so why is the left-handed hitter striking out so much now?

Why SF Giants star acquisition Rafael Devers is striking out so much

Last week, we looked at one area of the Giants' approach at the plate. The detail that stood out was that they were not nearly as aggressive at pitches in the middle of the zone. Those are mistake pitches, and good offenses were swinging at them at a higher rate than the rest of the league.

On the other hand, the Giants were seeing more mistake pitches and swinging at a lower than just about every team in baseball. That would seemingly highlight a problem with the team's approach at the plate.

Rafael Devers might be the perfect litmus test for this idea. He put up a .905 OPS with 15 home runs and 58 RBI in 334 plate appearances with the Boston Red Sox earlier this year, whereas he has posted a .764 OPS with nine home runs and 24 RBI in 234 plate appearances with San Francisco. Devers has been good with the Giants, but not great.

This includes a 22.8 percent strikeout rate with Boston and a 30.8 percent strikeout rate with the Giants. This is a stark contrast within the season, so what has changed?

Is Devers swinging and missing more with the Giants? No, his contact rate is higher with the Giants (71.8%) than it was with the Red Sox earlier in the year (69.8%). This is also true for his in-zone contact and his chase contact. He is making more contact on pitches he swings at than earlier in the year.

The issue seems to be with his aggressiveness. Devers' zone swing rate is at 66.7 percent, down considerably from the 73.1 percent rate he put up with the Red Sox earlier in the year. Since he is not swinging as much, his called strike rate is much higher with the Giants at 14.4 percent.

To put it differently, Devers is not swinging at pitches in the zone at the same rate he held earlier in the year. Not surprisingly, he is seeing more pitches go by that are called for strikes. This seems to be consistent with many Giants hitters, who are not attacking the mistake pitches out over the zone enough.

With Devers, this has led to a sharp increase in his strikeout rate. For the Giants, this should raise some alarm bells with their approach at the plate. Is it coaching? Is it the players? Is it a combination of both? There seems to be a breakdown somewhere.

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