Kristian Campbell clears the air on alleged beef with Rafael Devers
First things first.
On opposite coasts and now in different organizations and at different levels of baseball, Rafael Devers and Kristian Campbell agree that Devers — who was traded to the Giants on Sunday — never took issue with his former Red Sox teammate agreeing to move from second base to first base to help the team when Devers himself wasn't willing to make the same kind of selfless switch.
Yahoo Sports reported that Devers felt the top prospect Campbell's willingness to change positions to first base was a 'slight to his own stature' given the saga surrounding Devers all season.
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Boston Red Sox second baseman Kristian Campbell (28) makes a catch for an out against the New York Yankees during the seventh inning at Fenway Park on June 15, 2025.
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Devers didn't want to move off third base to make way for newcomer Alex Bregman but ultimately settled in at designated hitter.
Then he refused to learn first base after Triston Casas suffered a season-ending injury, so the Red Sox turned to Campbell to take grounders before games.
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'Yeah, that was false,' Campbell told reporters at Triple-A Worcester, after he was sent down by the Red Sox. 'First off, Raffy never came to me. Never had a problem with it. We were always cool. He is an extremely great friend, extremely great person. Very kind person and a good teammate.
'Secondly, I never went to the Red Sox wanting to play first base. They came to me and asked me if I could play first base because we didn't have one at the time. That's when Casas went down. I said I would do it if it makes the team better. I would be willing to learn the position. That's basically how it went down.'
Neither of them is playing first base for the Red Sox now because Campbell's struggles got him returned to the minors and Devers was traded to the Giants last week in a surprise blockbuster.
Ahead of his second series with the Giants — against the Red Sox, of course — Devers denied having an issue with Campbell doing what he wouldn't.
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San Francisco Giants designated hitter Rafael Devers (16) waits to bat against the Boston Red Sox in the first inning at Oracle Park on Friday night.
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'I didn't say anything like that,' said Devers, via his interpreter when asked if there was any validity to the past reports. 'I really don't want to talk about it. I want to concentrate on what is ahead for me.'
Devers is expected to play first base at some point for the Giants and said he would have for the Red Sox if they had asked him to pick it up during spring training rather than during the season.
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