Ceddanne Rafaela will participate the Netherlands roster for the WBC
The rosters for the World Baseball Classic were announced on Thursday and top Red Sox prospect Ceddanne Rafaela will not be participating in the tournament.
Rafaela was considered to potentially make the Netherlands roster. Unfortunately, he was not selected and Red Sox will not get to see him play in the WBC.
The Netherlands roster is led by former Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts who’ll be competing in his third WBC. During his play in the WBC, the new Padres prized free agent owns a .737 OPS.
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Rafaela is currently ranked No. 86 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects in baseball. While he won’t play in the WBC, he will likely get his chance at the Triple-A level to begin the season.
Rafaela is considered to be one of the best defensive players in the Red Sox entire organization. The question about his overall game would be how his bat would translate to the major league level.
This offseason, the Curaçao native focused improving as a better hitter.
“He got a chance to play winter ball down in Puerto Rico, working on his approach,” said Red Sox director of player development Brian Abraham to MLB.com. “His ability to swing consistently at pitches in the strike zone is something that is a big focus of his. He has power. He drives the ball to all fields, despite the size, but being able to do that consistently with balls in the strike zone, it seems to be repetitive at times with a lot of our younger players. But that is really a huge difference maker for what makes big leaguers big leaguers.”
In 116 games, 45 for High-A Greenville and 71 for Double-A Portland -- the right-handed hitter had a line of .299/.342/.538 with 32 doubles, 10 triples, 21 homers and 28 stolen bases.
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