In the second-worst ballpark for home runs in all of MLB, Rafael Devers has hit 18 of them at home this season — the highest total at Oracle Park since Barry Bonds connected on 26 in 2004. The stat was flagged by Sarah Langs of MLB.com after the September 11, 2026 game, and it puts Devers in very short company: Bonds did it five times. No one else had ever reached that number at this park in a single season. Until now.
A Ballpark That Eats Home Runs — and Devers Didn’t Get the Memo
Oracle Park is not a hitter’s friend. Statcast ranks it as the fourth-worst ballpark for hitting overall in 2026 and the second-worst specifically for home runs in the entire league. The bay wind, the deep center field, and San Francisco’s cold air have swallowed plenty of balls that would have been no-doubters anywhere else.
Devers doesn’t seem to care. His OPS at Oracle Park in 2026 sits at .838 — actually better than his road mark of .785 — making him the most productive hitter at that stadium in more than two decades.
The September 11 grand slam captures exactly how he does it: a Robbie Ray knuckle curve at 79.9 mph that Devers turned around at 101.7 mph exit velocity, a 21-degree launch angle, and 388 feet of distance. It was his ninth career grand slam and the Giants‘ ninth of the season — the most in the majors in 2026.
The Only Club That Matters: Just Bonds Had Been Here
Since Oracle Park opened in 2000 as Pacific Bell Park, only Barry Bonds had ever hit 16 or more home runs there in a single season — and he did it five times. Nobody else had come close. Bonds’ record of 26 in 2004 still stands. Devers has 18 with several weeks still left on the schedule.
This isn’t a record chase — that one still belongs to Bonds — but it’s something equally striking: being the only player to even approach it in over twenty years.
The parallels don’t stop there. Devers’ 36 home runs in 2026 are the most by a Giant since Bonds hit 45 in that same 2004 season. And his 96 RBI in 147 games are the most by a San Francisco Giant in a single season since Hunter Pence drove in 99 in 2013. That’s not just a narrative comparison — it’s a statistical one.
Devers arrived in San Francisco in June 2025 as part of Buster Posey’s project to build a winning team. In 2026, he’s the offensive engine of the Giants across virtually every category.
The Numbers Behind the Bat
Devers doesn’t show up in the rankings by accident. Here’s what Statcast has on him through the 2026 season:
- 629 plate appearances
- 36 home runs and 96 RBI
- AVG: .258
- OPS: .862
- xwOBA: .341 (what he «should» be doing based on contact quality)
- Average exit velocity: 93 mph
- Barrel rate: 12.3%
- Hard-hit rate: 51.8% (balls hit 95 mph or harder)
- Average bat speed: 71.9 mph
How that stacks up against the rest of MLB:
- xwOBA: 75th percentile
- Exit velocity: 95th percentile (elite)
- Barrel %: 80th percentile
- Hard-hit %: 95th percentile (elite)
The numbers don’t need an opinion attached. Devers is doing something at Oracle Park that almost no one has done — and the Statcast data shows exactly why he’s built for it. You can check his full profile at Baseball Savant.
