He may not have gotten the nod last year, but better late than never: Boston Red Sox outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela has officially been named an MLB All-Star for the first time in his career.
The 25-year-old is in the midst of a career year, hitting .283 with eight home runs and 39 RBIs on the season. He also leads the entire American League with a 1.9 Defensive WAR.
Rafaela has long been an elite glove in the outfield, even winning the Gold Glove award last season for the first time in his career (and, at this rate, he seems like a safe bet to win it again this year), but his bat has gradually improved each year, and it's turned him into one of Boston's most well-rounded players.
Ceddanne Rafaela was in All-Star considerations in 2025
Even though he was named an All-Star for the first time this season, this isn't the only time Rafaela has been in the discussion.
Last season, there was a lot of talk about the Curacao native playing his way to the All-Star team. He established himself as one of the best defensive outfielders in the majors, and he was enjoying a then career year at the plate.
In his first 92 games last year (before the All-Star break), Rafaela was hitting .271 and had recorded 14 home runs and 48 RBIs. It's fair to debate whether he was an All-Star snub or not because of the players selected instead of him (Aaron Judge, Riley Greene, Javier Baez, Randy Arozarena, Byron Buxton, Steven Kwan, and Julio Rodriguez), but nobody would have been upset if he was named to the team because of his high level of play in every area of the game.
Red Sox better hope Ceddanne Rafaela keeps it up this year
Rafaela notably had a major regression after the All-Star break last year. In his final 64 games, he recorded a .218 batting average, two home runs, and 15 RBIs. He also went 0-for-10 across three Wild Card games against the New York Yankees.
Boston has seen this play out with Rafaela before, where he'll have a red-hot start to the season and then hit a wall. Hopefully for them, it doesn't play out the same way this year.
The Red Sox are suddenly 12-3 in their last 15 games and are legitimately back in the playoff picture after an abysmal start to the season. There is still a lot of baseball left, but if they're serious about playing in October this year, they need everybody to be on their A-game. And that especially includes Rafaela, who has turned into one of their most important players on the roster.
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