James Tibbs III is hitting like a different player since the Los Angeles Dodgers got him in the Dustin May deal, and the latest numbers have only made the Boston Red Sox look more distant from the return they once held. The right fielder has seven home runs in 10 Triple-A games for the Dodgers and is slashing.439/.511/1.098.
That kind of burst is the sharpest evidence yet that Tibbs may be turning into the kind of prospect the Red Sox hoped they were getting when they received him, Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks and Jose Bello in last season’s Rafael Devers trade. Tibbs, the Dodgers’ No. 10 prospect, had already shown he could handle the Dodgers’ system last year, when he hit.269 with a.900 OPS in 36 Double-A games.
For Boston, the broader return from the Devers deal has mostly slipped away. Harrison was later sent to the Milwaukee Brewers in the Caleb Durbin trade and has earned a rotation job there, striking out 14 in 10 1/3 innings over his first two starts. Hicks was moved on to the Chicago White Sox, where he continues to struggle at times. Jose Bello remains in Single-A. May, meanwhile, is no longer even with the team.
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Tibbs’ path has been the most striking of the bunch. He hit.207 with a.586 OPS in 30 Double-A games with the Red Sox, then arrived in Los Angeles and immediately looked more comfortable. He started this season in Triple-A for the Dodgers, played some first base, and has punished pitching ever since. He had played better for the Dodgers than he did for both the Red Sox and the San Francisco Giants.
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That is why the Devers trade still feels unfinished even after the deadline churn. Boston’s return has been dispersed across three organizations, and the best individual performance so far belongs to a player the Red Sox no longer have. The true winner of the Rafael Devers trade will not be known for a few more years, but Tibbs is already making the question harder for Boston to ignore.
