Ceddanne Rafaela with a breakout game on Saturday, drives in 7 RBI in shellacking of Cubs
Ceddanne Rafaela had the biggest game of his young big league career on Saturday afternoon, going 4-for-4 with one homer, two doubles, a sacrifice fly, a stolen base, and driving in seven RBI in the Red Sox’ 17-0 shellacking of the Cubs at Fenway Park.
Rafaela, 23, joined former big leaguer Bo Jackson (1987) as the only other rookie to go 4-for-4 with seven RBIs and a steal, according to OptaSTATS.
Rafaela has been struggling offensively this season, entering the game on Saturday hitting just .156 with an OPS of .576.
Similar to Triston Casas last season, the Red Sox are being patient with Rafaela. Luckily, his versatility on defense and his ability to play shortstop in the absence of Trevor Story are allowing the team and fans to be patient with his aggressive approach at the plate.
On Friday night, in the Red Sox series opening loss to the Cubs, Rafaela went 0-for-4, and he only saw six total pitches in the game. Rafaela owns a 51% first-pitch swing percentage this season with an overall 59.8% swing percentage.
Translation: he’s very aggressive at the plate.
Flipping the calendar one day, Rafaela saw 20 pitches over five at-bats, including an eight-pitch at-bat that ended in a two-run 411-foot homer to center field.
Alex Cora felt that Rafaela showed patience in his at-bats and did not leave the strike zone.
“I think I was patient at the plate and waited for the best pitch to hit,” Rafaela said. “I think going into the game and executing the plan, I think that’s why I saw those results.”
Rafaela produced five hard-hit balls, joining Kiké Hernández during the 2021 ALDS and Rafael Devers last season to achieve that feat, per Red Sox Stats X page. The native of Curaçao credited his at-bat, where he hit the sac fly to right field in the fourth inning, for setting the tone for his big afternoon.
“Obviously, that swing is the swing that set me up for the rest of the day,” Rafaela said. “I think right there, in that spot, to help the team was huge for me. I love it. I think that's professional, right there. I think it was a good AB, not for me, but for the team.”
The big question now is whether or not Rafaela can carry his momentum from Saturday into the series finale on Sunday night.
“We’ll know tomorrow, right?” said Cora. “That's the beauty of this game. We don't know what’s going to happen tomorrow. He had a good game in Pittsburgh on April 19. He didn't have a good game the next [few] days. So we continue to work with him, give him structure and guidance, and help him out. And like I said yesterday, we’ve just got to be patient.”
The Red Sox will need to continue to show patience with Rafaela offensively, similarly to how they did with Casas a year ago.
