CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Rafael Devers doesn’t yet speak English fluently. He utilized a translator when he met with reporters during the Red Sox rookie-development program at Alumni Stadium at Boston College on Thursday.

When a reporter asked Devers in English if he was surprised he hadn’t been traded this winter, however, Devers understood -- and his youthful face broke out in a grin.

"I wasn’t worried," he said in his native Spanish. "If they were to send me somewhere, it’s the same baseball. At the end of the day, I’ve got to put in the work wherever I get traded to."

Devers then paused and continued his thought.

"But I really would like to play here in Boston," he went on, "and I hope they give me the opportunity."

The 20-year-old Devers mostly out of the spotlight last season even as one of the game’s top prospects. Andrew Benintendi and Yoan Moncada garnered more attention than did Devers by virtue of being closer to the major leagues. Michael Kopech drew headlines with reports he touched 105 miles per hour with his fastball.

But Benintendi is in the major leagues now. Moncada and Kopech are with the Chicago White Sox, part of the blockbuster Chris Sale trade. In an organization where prospects garner more attention than perhaps any other, Devers has the spotlight to himself.

If not for last season, the Red Sox might be concerned that Devers would put too much pressure on himself. But the organization saw their young third baseman go through that a year ago.

Devers had hit 32 doubles and 11 home runs as an 18-year-old at Single-A Greenville in 2015, establishing himself as one of the game’s top prospects. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the Dominican League draft that December. But he stumbled badly after a promotion to High-A Salem in 2016, hitting under .200 into late May. The attention he’d garnered seemed to get to him a little bit.

By the end of the season, Devers had found his level again. He hit 32 doubles and 11 home runs as a 19-year-old in the High-A Carolina League, positioning himself to open this season at Double-A Portland.

"Some of it was learning to deal with expectations, trying to do too much," Red Sox farm director Ben Crockett said. "He really didn’t find his rhythm in spring training, and, as a result of that, the effort level increased quite a bit."

Devers is hardly the first young slugger to heap pressure on himself following a breakthrough season.

Xander Bogaerts hit 15 home runs in more than 100 games as a 19-year-old in Salem in 2012, a year after he’d hit 16 home runs in Greenville at 18. Those two seasons made him one of the game’s top prospects -- and he heard the hype.

"You do," Bogaerts said before Thursday's Boston baseball writers' dinner. "You come to spring training, and you get recognized more. You get treated a bit differently. You can feel it. You can sense it. You know it. You just put a little more pressure on yourself to do go out there and do good."

For Bogaerts, the pivotal voice in his ear was that of then-Salem manager Billy McMillon, keeping him from getting too cocky. For Devers, that voice presumably will be Portland manager Carlos Febles, a veteran of six big-league seasons and a fellow native of the Dominican Republic.

"(McMillon) always seemed to pick on me -- always," Bogaerts said. "It wasn’t until I got older that I realized he was doing it for a good reason, that he wanted me to be really good. He saw stuff I didn’t know about at that time. He saw the type of player I could become. That’s why he was always stressing to me to do it the right way."

Bogaerts jumped from Portland to Triple-A Pawtucket and then to the major leagues at age 20, taking over the job at third base for the World Series-winning Red Sox in 2013. A similar ascent by Devers this season is unlikely but not out of the question -- which is why he’ll be in big-league camp in spring training.