The Pink Sox have agreed to an extension with outfielder/second baseman Ceddanne Rafaela, stories Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. It’s an eight-year, $50MM pact, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, as relayed by Ian Browne of MLB.com. Rafaela is the second younger, core participant the group has locked up prior to now few weeks; Boston additionally signed righty Brayan Bello to a six-year, $55MM deal in late March.
Rafaela, 23, has ranked among the many recreation’s high 100 prospects coming into every of the previous two seasons. He made his large league debut in 2023 received the middle discipline job in Boston with a robust spring displaying in 2024. Via his first 124 large league plate appearances, Rafaela is a .239/.282/.389 hitter, although his minor league monitor report options way more promising numbers. Rafaela cut up nearly all of the 2023 marketing campaign between Double-A and Triple-A, the place he logged a mixed .302/.349/.520 slash with 20 homers, 31 doubles, three triples and 36 stolen bases (in 49 tries).
Listed at simply 5’9″ and 152 kilos, Rafaela is small in stature however actually not quick on expertise. Scouting stories laud him as a possible plus heart fielder; Baseball America and MLB.com each name him a Gold Glove-caliber defender there, and The Athletic’s Keith Regulation wrote that Rafaela “has an opportunity to be essentially the most invaluable outfield defender in baseball” when rating him thirty second amongst all MLB prospects this spring. Rafaela {couples} that defensive upside with plus velocity and sufficient energy to undertaking for double-digit residence runs within the large leagues, even when he’s extra of a niche hitter than a real slugger.
Whereas Rafaela struck out as a typically manageable 21% clip within the higher minors final season, he doesn’t have a very affected person strategy on the plate. He walked in simply 5.4% of his plate appearances final season — his second straight minor league marketing campaign with a stroll price round 5%. He’s drawn a free cross in simply 4.8% of his large league plate appearances so far. Barring an evolution in his strategy on the dish, Rafaela may put up middling on-base percentages within the majors, however his defensive prowess, velocity and energy contributions ought to offset any potential OBP deficiency.
As proven in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, the pre-arbitration extensions for Rafalea and Bello mark a notable change in philosophy from a Pink Sox membership that has eschewed long-term offers for gamers who’re comparatively unproven within the large leagues. From 2012 by 2021, the Pink Sox didn’t give out a single pre-arb extension. Their 2022 cope with righty Garrett Whitlock (4 years, $18.75MM with two membership choices) was their first extension for a participant previous to arbitration eligibility since Clay Buchholz manner again in 2011.
The Sox haven’t shied away from extensions completely, however long-term offers for Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts, Chris Sale and Rick Porcello have been far dearer offers that got here after these gamers had solidified themselves as large leaguers price annual values of $20MM or extra. Even the unique Bogaerts deal, which was thought of wildly club-friendly, was valued at six years and $120MM.
Maybe the eventual lack of Bogaerts, coupled with high-profile departures of Mookie Betts, Jon Lester and others over time, pushed Sox possession to develop into extra aggressive on early-career extensions. Possibly they’ve develop into more and more dissatisfied with expensive free-agent offers that haven’t gone to plan (e.g. Trevor Story, David Worth, Lucas Giolito). Or maybe they merely regarded on the rising worth for younger expertise across the league and opted to develop into extra proactive. Regardless of the cause, they’re starting to lock up some promising and reasonably priced contributors to affix Devers in comprising the long-term core.
Rafaela is only one of a number of extension candidates on the Pink Sox, and with two offers now hammered out, it appears more and more believable others may but comply with. Most notably, first baseman Triston Casas and righty Tanner Houck have each spoken about their openness to extensions. Different pre-arb gamers who may feasibly be thought of for long-term offers embrace left fielder Jarren Duran and righty Kutter Crawford.
