For about seven weeks, Ceddanne Rafaela was the best player in baseball. From May 27 to July 13, not only did his brand of defense in center rival that of Boston legend Jackie Bradley Jr., but it was also buttressed with an OPS of 1.017 (by way of comparison, Big Papi in his final season posted an OPS of 1.021). However, since returning from the All-Star break on July 18, Rafaela has slashed a paltry .185/.236/.270, dropping his seasonal OPS by one hundred points. While his defense in center remains Gold Glove-worthy, with the Boston Red Sox starting to slip down the final stretch, one wonders whether manager Alex Cora should sit Rafaela to try to improve an ailing offense.
Ceddanne Rafaela's Struggles Are Forcing Alex Cora's Hand
Perhaps if Roman Anthony remained healthy, this would not be an issue. In the fortnight since the young slugger went down with an oblique injury on September 2, the team has hit .245/.301/.375, well below their previous .255/.325/.428 pace. (On the other side of the ball, Boston has compiled an ERA of 3.92 since that same date and has not allowed more than five runs in a game since September 5.)
When combined with the loss of Wilyer Abreu, the vaunted Boston outfield suddenly seemed quite thin; instead of four worthy players competing for three slots, the Red Sox have featured outfields of Duran-Rafaela-Eaton/Refsnyder, with a diminished Masataka Yoshida (.236/.285/.333) in the designated hitter spot.
Currently, the only other player capable of holding an outfield spot is utility man Nick Sogard. Cora has already given him two starts in right field since he was called up to replace Anthony on September 3. In a tiny sample size of 25 plate appearances, he has slashed .333/.360/.417.
Sogard also has a track record of high on-base percentages at the Triple A level (.380 in more than fifteen hundred plate appearances), and even his career major league mark of .328 would represent a nearly one-hundred-point increase over Rafaela. (For his part, Eaton posted an OPS of .855 at Worcester and, in limited action at the major league level this year, has reached base at a .342 clip.)
At Worcester remain Kristian Campbell, who has played 19 games in their outfield since August 14, and Jhostynxon Garcia, though replacing Rafaela with a “veteran” of nine major league plate appearances seems unlikely. Even if Campbell proves unable to replicate his Rookie of the Month performance, his June line of .205/.340/.318 would constitute a major boost to the lineup.
In short, it would be advantageous for the Red Sox to at least sit the flailing Rafaela for a day or two, while working in these more potent bats. Duran would more than adequately replace any drop-off in centerfield defense, while a rotation of Eaton, Sogard, and Refsnyder would improve the lineup.