The performances of one Boston Red Sox player are lifting David Ortiz’s spirits.

Sam Kennedy revealed to The Athletic’s Steve Buckley that Ortiz raved about Rafael Devers at length during a conversation the Red Sox president had with the club icon last Saturday at Massachusetts General Hospital. Devers, 22, has been among the team’s standouts in 2019, and his progression has thrilled Ortiz.

“He went on about Devers for about 15 minutes,” Kennedy said in an story Buckley published Thursday. “He’s very excited about how he’s played this year.”

Devers is hitting .324 with 16 home runs and 62 RBIs and improving defensively at third base, but All-Star Game voters snubbed him for this year’s midsummer classic.

Ortiz is recovering at Massachusetts General Hospital from a gunshot wound he sustained June 9 in the Dominican republic. His wife, Tiffany, announced Thursday he underwent a third surgery in his ongoing recovery from the attack.

Authorities in the Dominican Republic have arrested at least 12 people in connection with the shooting, including the alleged mastermind, Victor Hugo Gomez Vasquez. Authorities’ investigations continue.

The uplifting effect Devers has on Ortiz in the aftermath of the tragedy is encouraging.

Thumbnail photo via Douglas DeFelice/USA TODAY Sports Images