Most season home runs by Red Sox younger than 25: features Rafael Devers. But Devers relative home run rate is worst.

It's been mentioned more than once. I think it's most home runs in a season by a Red Sox batter younger than 25. It's apparently intended to feature current third baseman Rafael Devers.

Rafael Devers

Position: Third Baseman

Bats: Left  •  Throws: Right

6-0, 240lb (183cm, 108kg)

Team: Boston Red Sox (majors)

Born: October 24, 1996 (Age: 24-335d) in Sanchez, Dominican Republic do

Devers hit season home run number 35 tonight in a losing game against the Yankees. Devers is the fourth Red Sox batter to hit at least 35 home runs when he was younger than 25.

The following table shows the relative home run rate, which is home runs per plate appearance (PA) and per at bat (AB), take your pick. The difference is very small. Lower is better. That rate or ratio is compared to the American League (AL). The two seasons for Ted Williams are three decades before the introduction of the designated hitter (DH), so the pitchers batted, which makes the AL home rate worse and makes the percent difference for Williams a little better than it would with a DH. On the other hand, sacrifice flies (SF) were not separated from AB in the 1940s.

The percent difference (%Dif) is the difference divided by the AL rate. That's the bottom line number. Devers is dead last, the worst by far. Obviously, that's because Devers is hitting his home runs in a season when a lot of home runs are being hit. A lot.

This link has the data, which is also below. It's derived from an ad hoc query at stathead.com via baseball-reference.com.

								AL	AL	AL	AL	AL	PA	PA	AB	AB
Player	Year	Age	HR	PA	AB	PA/HR	AB/HR	HR	PA	AB	PA/HR	AB/HR	Dif	%Dif	Dif	%Dif	Player	Year
Jim Rice	1977	24	39	710	644	18.205	16.513	2,013	86,642	77,275	43.041	38.388	24.836	57.70%	21.875	56.98%	Jim Rice	1977
Ted Williams	1941	22	37	606	456	16.378	12.324	734	48,682	43,125	66.324	58.753	49.946	75.31%	46.429	79.02%	Ted Williams	1941
Ted Williams	1942	23	36	671	522	18.639	14.500	533	47,135	41,955	88.433	78.715	69.795	78.92%	64.215	81.58%	Ted Williams	1942
Nomar Garciaparra	1998	24	35	652	604	18.629	17.257	2,499	88,175	78,416	35.284	31.379	16.656	47.20%	14.122	45.00%	Nomar Garciaparra	1998
Rafael Devers	2021	24	35	628	557	17.943	15.914	2,898	85,727	76,731	29.581	26.477	11.639	39.34%	10.563	39.89%	Rafael Devers	2021
													max	78.92%		81.58%
													min	39.34%		39.89%