“He battled with it the entire year,” manager Tony Vitello said. Rafael Devers is leading the San Francisco Giants with 37 home runs and 98 RBIs. He started 148 of their first 149 games so far and sat out Wednesday’s game after making 309 consecutive appearances. And after he recorded homers in back-to-back games, people were hoping he would reach 40 HRs, a mark yet untouched by a Giant since Barry Bonds. But that expectation took a huge hit when San Francisco placed the $313.5 million star on the injured list.

“Rafael Devers is going on the 60-day IL with a core muscle injury,” Baseball Is Dead posted on X, crediting Alex Pavlovic. “He’s been managing it for most of 2026, but now he’ll see a specialist, and it’s possible he needs surgery.”

The 29-year-old is scheduled to travel to Philadelphia on Monday to meet Dr. William Meyers, the specialist who performed Matt Chapman’s season-ending bilateral core muscle surgery last month. Devers will undergo surgery only if Meyers recommends it after evaluation. While that decision is pending, the only thing confirmed for now is that he has a core muscle injury.

“I think it’s something that’s bothered him for a few years now and kind of something that was a mystery to him,” Vitello said after putting him on the IL. “I think [head athletic trainer Dave Greschner] and our people did a great job of giving him relief. Pretty significant relief and a little bit of joy out of him to just have an answer to what it was that was popping up.

“I can’t even directly say medically what it was, but kind of a core injury. Not the same thing as Chappy, but similar. He’ll deal with the same doctor Chappy did, so to have relief, I think, is big on his plan.”

Devers was batting at .385 with four home runs in his last 7 games before the Giants chose to rest him on Wednesday. He came back for the homestand against the San Diego Padres. The visitors took an early lead, and they were 7-1 by the 3rd inning. Devers had a grand slam in the fifth to spark a comeback, but the Giants lost 7-5. 

The second game was hardly any different for SF as they lost 7-6. But the real concern is the three-time MLB All-Star, as there might be more complications behind his IL stint than just the injury itself.

Why the Giants chose to put him on the IL now

Rafael Devers was slashing .258/.340/.525 with an .865 OPS. While this was slightly below his career batting average, it was still good enough to justify his 10-year, $313.5 million contract. He had 35 home runs last season, that’s including his tenure with the Boston Red Sox and the Giants. This year, he was already at 37 with 13 games remaining in the season. 

San Francisco is currently fourth in the NL West with a 62-88 record. They are 19.5 games behind in the Wild Card race. So, Devers’ home runs or RBIs wouldn’t have helped them much. But Devers’ individual records were reason enough to keep him on the active roster. 

Moving on, Pavlovic pointed something far more critical.

He mentioned that the Giants might have pushed the timeline with a looming lockout and labor situation on the horizon. The League and the MLB owners are yet to reach a collective bargaining agreement with the MLBPA. The current CBA expires on December 1, and if the parties don’t reach a mutual point by then, the baseball community might be looking at an indefinite lockout. 

The players on the 40-man roster cannot work with the team employees during such a lockout. The NBC Sports Bay Area reporter claimed that the Giants might have the urgency to start Devers’ rehab before he can no longer contact the team’s rehab group. 

Vitello, however, didn’t seem to be focusing on such complications, and he simply appeared confident that Rafael Devers will be ready for Spring Training and will start 2027 as one of the best hitters.