Boston Red Sox fans learned a lot about their team in the first half of the season. Things looked bleak just two weeks ago, when the team dropped to 43-45, a few games out of the final wild card spot following a loss to the Cincinnati Reds. From that point on, the team hasn't lost a game, rattling off 10 straight wins to put themselves in a wild-card spot with 64 games remaining in the second half.
We can point to the Red Sox pitching staff, in particular Crochet, Bello, Giolito, and the bullpen, as a big reason this winning streak happened. Both Crochet and Bello pitched complete games on the Red Sox homestand, while the bullpen slammed the door whenever they were needed.
You can also point to the youth movement on offense. Roman Anthony is slashing .341/.431/.500 over the past two weeks and is really coming into his own. The other rookie, Marcelo Mayer, is slashing .313/.353/.500 over the past week. Both have been a big reason why the team has scored 70(!) runs over the past ten games.
That said, the biggest story of this winning streak has been another young Red Sox outfielder. Boston fans knew that Ceddanne Rafaela was a premier center fielder from a defensive standpoint. But what he's done with the bat in his hands in July has been a remarkable turnaround from the first two months of the season, and quite frankly, his whole career with the team leading up to this point.
Ceddanne Rafaela Must Prove First Half Success Wasn't a Fluke
Rafaela was the Red Sox's No.3 prospect at the time of his arrival in Boston during the 2023 season. Always known as a great fielder in center, at shortstop, or second base, the one knack to his game was his plate discipline.
Per his prospect profile on MLB.com, this was one thing that he needed to work on.
"Despite his lack of physicality, Rafaela produces average power thanks to a combination of a quick right-handed swing, deceptive strength and an extremely aggressive approach. He has good bat-to-ball skills, though he chases a lot of pitches out of the strike zone and will have to make better swing decisions to thrive against more advanced pitching."
Upon his arrival in 2023, Rafaela struck out 28 times in 83 at-bats (31.5% of the time). In his first full season in 2024, Rafaela saw that strikeout rate decrease to 26.5%, but only drew 15 walks (bottom 1% walk rate in MLB) across 571 plate appearances. But an upward trend every season in terms of barrel rate, exit velocity, and hard hit rate has Rafaela looking like the star Red Sox fans hoped he would be in 2025.
This season, Rafaela has decreased his strikeout rate to 19.6% and has already surpassed his walk total (16) from last season. He's seeing the ball clearly, not chasing as much, and has recognized pitch sequences and pitchers' tendencies far better than he has in the past. It's almost like he was waiting for Rays closer Pete Fairbanks to throw a slider on the walkoff home run pitch.
Ceddanne Rafaela’s stats from Opening Day to 5/31 vs his stats from 6/1 to now:
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) July 8, 2025
.239 AVG ➡️ .302 AVG
3 HR ➡️ 6 HR
.359 SLG ➡️ .629 SLG
.647 OPS ➡️ .965 OPS
76 wRC+ ➡️ 162 wRC+
A key part of this? His Pulled Flyball% has more than DOUBLED, going from 10.1% to 22.6% since 6/1 💪 pic.twitter.com/NmTuIzZTwO
Across 41 at-bats in July, Rafaela is slashing .390/.405/.902 with 5 home runs and 15 RBIs. Performances like these will have Ceddanne climbing the batting order, and Red Sox fans hope that the Rafaela breakout is officially here.
Obviously, a .390 batting average isn't sustainable for the rest of the season, but it looks as if Rafaela is coming into his own as a hitter. He's confident in the box and feels he can hit any pitch out of the park right now. That said, he'll have to prove it over the course of the last 60-plus games if the team wants to return to the postseason for the first time since 2021.
When the Red Sox come back from the All-Star break, they'll face some of the National League's best. They head to Wrigley Field on Friday to start a series with the first-place Cubs, and then will travel to Philadelphia for a three-game set against the Phillies. Finally, they'll head back home to face the reigning champion Dodgers from July 25-27.
Let's see what Rafaela can do against some of the best pitching staffs in the league, as the Red Sox look to separate themselves in the wild card standings starting Friday. Ceddanne is on a generational run, and it's a shame that the All-Star Break had to interrupt it.