The Red Sox lost Trevor Story to season-ending shoulder surgery less than two weeks into the 2024 campaign, and they’ve cycled through several options there in the interim. However, infielder/outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela has started the past six games at the position, and manager Alex Cora said today that he’ll remain the everyday option at shortstop moving forward (X link via Ian Browne of MLB.com).
The 23-year-old Rafaela, who just signed an eight-year $50MM extension earlier this season, is regarded as one of the game’s top defensive outfielders but also has plenty of experience in the infield. He’s played all three positions left of first base, including 766 career frames at shortstop between the minors and the big leagues. Story, Vaughn Grissom and Romy Gonzalez are all on the injured list for the Sox, who’ve also tried David Hamilton and Pablo Reyes at shortstop. Rafaela will be the preferred choice moving forward.
It’s been a rough start to the season at the plate for Rafaela, a top-100 prospect who’s torn through upper-minors pitching but has yet to find much offensive success in the big leagues. The righty-swinging speedster hit .241/.286/.386 in 89 plate appearances during last year’s MLB debut effort and carries a dismal .171/.213/.293 slash through the exact same number of plate appearances thus far in 2024. Even with those struggles, Cora saw fit to give the touted young prospect a vote of confidence with today’s announcement.
The health of the rest of the roster could always chance the calculus, of course. The Sox currently figure to run with a primary outfield of Tyler O’Neill, Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu for the foreseeable future. An injury to any of that trio could push Rafaela back into the outfield, at least on occasion — particularly if and when Grissom and Gonzalez heal up to replenish some infield depth.
It’s perhaps not ideal to have an elite defensive outfielder operating as the everyday shortstop in the long run, but Rafaela is regarded as a plus defensive second baseman as well and has thus far handled shortstop plenty capably. That versatility is part of the reason the Sox valued him enough to put forth that extension offer in the first place. Even if his long-term home is likely in center field, he can help patch things over in the infield when injuries mount as they have thus far in 2024.
acell10
He’s also regarded as a plus defensive SS too. The author under sold that by saying he was “capable”
User 4245925809
Not to mention Rafaella would have had a 3 hit game last night, only Dalbec, not being able to judge a ball Raffy hit to RF was thrown out at 2nd, costing him that 3rd hit.
must have been so rare for Dalbec being on base which was the cause, being he’s 2-37 after last night.
deweybelongsinthehall
I really thought Dalbec was ready to perform…
mikedickinson
4A player
DBH1969
Me and you, both Dewey. If there was a moment that the Baseball Gods created for him to assert himself, it is now. 2 hits in the last 5 games is a start, but the dude needs to get out of his own head and just let it rip… or his career is RIP
Fever Pitch Guy
mike – Dalbec is Franchy without the dance moves.
Maybe they will be teammates on Seibu next year.
Fever Pitch Guy
dewey – To put it in perspective, think of it this way … the very worst (.167) hitters in MLB get at least 1 hit in every 6 AB’s.
When Chris Davis had the 54-AB hitless streak, he batted .168-.179
Realistically nobody expects Dalbec to hit worse than that playing a full season, so he will get at least 1 hit every 6 AB’s. … especially when the opposing team gives up 16 hits.
deweybelongsinthehall
I just thought he,’d mature unlike Chavis who I never expected to sustain his initial performance.
Fever Pitch Guy
dewey – I am really, really excited about tomorrow’s matchup ….. my man Kutter against my man Shota!!!
It might be the fastest game in MLB history if the Sox can go into the 9th leading 1-0 and hold on for the win.
deweybelongsinthehall
Fever, I just want the defense to perform like an MLB club. You practice, preach and build a team which includes glove work, covering bases and throwing. Cora and management have to take responsibility for not teaching, developing and building a roster with backups ready.
Occams_hairbrush
Don’t feed the troll.
Fever Pitch Guy
dewey – I can’t help but wonder if the overuse of analytics is a contributing factor to the lack of fundamentals, all the errors and baserunning blunders.. There has been much discussion about players being flooded with too much data that they are required to absorb.
And if you remember back to the Moneyball of the early 2000’s, that’s what happened with those Oakland teams, constant fielding errors and baserunning blunders. The Red Sox came back to win the 2003 ALDS because of it.
LordD99
Playing him in the OF limited Wilyer Abreu’s games, which wasn’t good.
JoeBrady
Now we need to find out if Abreu can hit lefties. It’s not the end of the world if he can’t, but if he can, then Abreu becomes a very valuable player.
Rsox
If he can, great. If he can’t, that’s why Refsnyder’s around
Fever Pitch Guy
Lord – Right you are! My man Abreu has to play every day.
Trollfree
Fever – He needs to manage his hitting streaks. 2023 suggested he has two extremes, hot and cold and not much in between. He is hot right now, lets see in a week if he stays hot. Great if he does but patterns often repeat themselves just like Rafaela pressing and going after pitches off the plate when he’s needing success to be satisfied.
One needs consistency and the other need discipline and both should be able to accomplish their goals given time. (a major portion of 2024!!)
Old York
Why? According to Fangraphs: in 2024:
OFF: -6.3 (below league average)
DEF: -1.3 (below league average)
WAR: -0.5
DFA candidate.
Joemo
If he’s the CF of the future, it’s probably best to just keep him there for now. He made some early errors in CF on relatively easy plays (IIRC). The smart play would be to grab an actual SS to fill in while Mr.Glass nurses yet another injury and let Rafaela get comfortable in CF and focus on improving his bat.
Story and Yoshida are costing the Red Sox a ton of money for no production.
Rsox
Rafaela has looked more comfortable at the plate since moving to SS for what it’s worth.
Fever Pitch Guy
Rsox – The stats don’t indicate that FWIW ….
As CF – .185 BA .233 OBP
As SS – .182 BA .217 OBP
Rsox
Maybe not but it seems like he’s taking better AB’s at the plate
Fever Pitch Guy
Rsox – I hope so, if he can be more patient and take more pitches he will improve.
Trollfree
Fever – In a short while Rafaela will reverse their situations just like last year. These guys are young and need time. Larger sample sizes are needed during this meaningless season.
dasit
from what little i’ve seen duran looks like a competent center fielder curious what red sox fans think
Fever Pitch Guy
dasit – Agreed. If he gets traded, his new team could easily plug him into CF.
Fever Pitch Guy
dasit – And sure enough, a few minutes ago Duran made a sensational catch and threw to 2B to complete a doubleplay.
DBH1969
Keeping Ceddanne at SS makes sense. There is far more depth in the OF than the IF, and he is a better SS than anyone else on the roster.
I had been posting this offseason / early season that Marcello Meyer was still a year away because of his injury last year, but he seems to have rebounded just fine.
The best solution is to promote Meyer and move Ceddanne to CF.
Yoshi needs to be traded. He is wasting away on the bench. He is going to get paid either way, so now the choice for the Sox is do they pay him for no return, or pay him for a prospect.
all in the suit that you wear
DBH: Agree with keeping Rafaela at SS. I don’t think we will see Mayer in Boston until September at the earliest. I think he may need to improve his plate discipline as he hasn’t walked much. It is probably a good move to trade Yosida if he will only DH because Devers may need to move to DH.
Darragh McDonald
twitter.com/JoeyCopponi/status/1778080990318981610
DBH1969
Let the Kid Sox play! Don’t trade any of them, supplement with signings.
DBH1969
I believe the thinking is that he is adjusting to mlb pitching, so why not have the 2 fastest guys at the top. Besides, Duran makes a GREAT number 2 hitter. Put another speedster at the top, and opposing pitchers are going to be mumbling to themselves… as long as Ceddanne stops trying to pull every outside pitch
Fever Pitch Guy
DBH – Except for the first inning, they had Duran following Rafaela every plate appearance anyway.
DBH1969
True. But Cora loves his R/L/R/L…
Sets up Lil Raf, Duran, O’Neil, Big Raf, etc
Sox67
Well as usual. Cora watches a pitcher struggle and leaves him. 53 pitches later Sox down by 5. Pathetic display yet again from a manager with a good pen. SMH
Fever Pitch Guy
Sox – The fact Anderson is even on the team says all you need to know about the depth on the team.
And what a horrible play at the plate!!!
McGuire with the passed ball, when he finally grabs it (no pun intended) he throws it away. Meanwhile Martin dogs it covering homeplate on the same play. Three errors on one play, two official.
JoeBrady
Yeah, they should’ve pulled him after the 1st and let the BP handle the remaining 8 innings.
DBH1969
I can not, for the life of me, believe I am posting this, but….
It is curious that Cora pulled Dalbec? He was 1 for 2. That is 3 hits in a week. He is just starting to find his swing, why pull him? Is he hurt?
sheerterror
Cora had to show how smart he is with moving everyone around on the field.
DBH1969
I am SOOOOO glad I am not the only one who thinks he makes decisions based solely on wanting to prove is he smarter than everyone else!!!
Fever Pitch Guy
DBH – Its called overmanaging, he does it often.
Trollfree
DBH and Fever = It’s called pure stupidity and it reflects a lack of baseball acumen.
Remember when Breslow made two “this is all about me moves for Giolito and O”Neill”? His average was .500.
Cora would need to improve .490 to catch Breslow!! He’s that bad and has been since 2018.
Sox67
Well let’s see. Cause of Cora’s mismanagement Sox lose again.
I think that’s 5 games this so far , not recognizing when to leave a starter or pull them , plus over playing a players. Pathetic at best.
Just f’n terrible management.
I’ve said last year and will continue until that idiot is gone.
Trollfree
Sox67 – AMEN!!!!! Someone needs to take out the trash.
n888
What about moving backward though?
Bruin1012
I know everyone is worried about Rafaela and his slow start but he will adjust like he has done at every level. His plate approach was always very likely to make him struggle out of the gate and big league pitchers were going to take advantage of his very poor plate disipline. He will adjust he has a very high floor due to his defensive acumen. I’m not saying he’s going to be a .300 hitter but I expect him to hit somewhere in the .230 to .250 range he will run into a few pitches he has sneaky power his defense is center can be special while his defense at short is probably more average. He will make some incredible plays there but he will also mess up some routine plays. Still overall he has a high floor with definite upside.
Wilyer Abreu has been hot and obviously he won’t stay that hot and with his swing he will have definite swing and miss. He’s also patient at the plate and takes a professional at bat. I look at as Casas lite. He has imo with enough plate appearances 20+ homer power as well. He’s also a very good defensive outfielder with a cannon for an arm. He can be played in any outfield position and do a quality job he gets excellent jumps and he catches any ball he gets near. In Fenway he plays right field but on the road if the bigger field is in left he plays there he’s a good baseball player with good baseball acumen.
Fever Pitch Guy
Bruin – I think Rafaela’s defensive issues is the bigger concern. People can live with him needing a year or more to become an acceptable hittter, but the defense should already be there …. and clearly it’s not, 4 errors already including 3 in the outfield.
Hey what do you think of Danny Kirwin? Sounds like another can’t NOT-miss kid like Dalkowski.
Bruin1012
I’m not worried about Rafaela’s defense at all. I think he grows out of the careless errors he makes now he clearly is very talented in Center makes spectacular plays but also makes difficult plays look easy.
I don’t know much about Danny Kirwin haven’t really seen him just what I hear and I don’t like to comment based on what I hear. OTOH my breakout pitcher pick coming into this year ERC looks really good currently sitting at 95-97 with his sinker and has a hammer curve and fast improving change to go with it. His stuff is up across the board but he sat at 92 ish last year. He’s really thin still but bigger than the 6’3 160 he was last year. He’s probably up 175-180 and I think his fastball has even more velocity as he continues to mature into his body. Very exciting prospect.
Fever Pitch Guy
Bruin – I just watched an inning where Rafaela let a ground ball go under him for a hit, then airmailed a throw to Dalbec that Bobby made a sensational sky-high grab on.
It’s gonna be a while before he can convince me that he’s a solid major league glove. Hopefully it’s just pressure from the contract and whatnot.
Trollfree
Fever – Too much worrying. Rafaela makes 3 errors in CF in about the same amount of chances as he has at SS where he has 1 error.. Devers plays 8 years as the worst fielder at his position in the history of the game and you keep focusing on EVERYONE EXCEPT DEVERS!!! WHY? Give the kids a chance. The talent is obvious. Whether it’s O’Neill, Duran, Rafaela, Abreu, Houck, Crawford, Bello, Whitlock, Casas or Grissom they all are very talented and need time to turn into all–star quality players so lets stop knit picking minor issues as you leave major issues like Devers, Yoshida, Story, Giolito and Cora not discussed. Want to vent then vent about the real problems not the guys who are the future. Let the kids play.
Fever Pitch Guy
TF – You’ll be happy to know Devers will be back at 3B tomorrow …. but Cora said it, so of course he could be lying. LOL!!!
Dalbec just made another sensational play, he is rock solid at first base. Maybe someday MLB will have DF’s (Designated Fielders) and Bobby can play first base full time while Casas just hits! LOL!!
WaitTil2026
Devers isn’t all that close to being the worst fielder at 3B over the last three years, let along “in the history of the game”. He isn’t good, for sure, but he is serviceable until somebody better comes along.
Who do you want playing 3B? Reyes? Now HE might be the worst defensive 3B in the history of the game if you give him enough innings… He struggles with the throws.
That said, it is silly to pile on Rafaela’s defense. He is still quite young, and barely played SS in the minors. Once he gets some experience under his belt he should be very good at both positions.
kingbum
York being a Yankee fan explains it….DFA Rafaela is fireable (or at least should be). The season is a month old, he has 2 months worth of AB’s at the major league level? It really takes 2,000 ABs or so at the show to make a real determination. That’s why a player is supposed to get in 7 years of playing time before free agency. Who in Boston’s system is better? I’ll wait…..If Abreu was better he’d take the job. They extended him because they know within 3 years he will be an all-star and they hope he returns the generosity by giving a discount when the time comes.