Craig Breslow ‘confident’ and ‘comfortable’ in giving Ceddanne Rafaela new extension
The Red Sox made it official on Wednesday, announcing the eight-year, $50 million extension for young outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela.
The 23-year-old has only 39 big league games under his belt and has a lot of development ahead of him, especially on the offensive side of his game, but Boston felt confident enough to extend the versatile defender.
“Despite the fact he’s got development that will continue, and I think he’d be the first person to speak to that, I think we’re very comfortable and very confident in both the floor — the defensive floor he provides and the ability to impact the game in so many different ways — and what we believe to be pretty significant offensive upside,” Breslow told reporters at Fenway Park on Wednesday afternoon.
“We’ve created a really strong development plan around him. We think his quality of contact and ball flight are really encouraging and foretelling of offensive upside. There’s so many places in the field where he’s going to help us win a game on defense. We feel like that combination is one that’s worth investing in,” added Breslow.
Rafaela is the second young player to land an extension this spring. Boston extended starter Brayan Bello to a sux-year, $55 million deal back in March. The Red Sox front office has made it a priority to continue to extend some of the young core on the roster.
Boston is trying to ensure their younger talent is locked up for years to come, hoping to avoid another potentially Mookie Betts or Xander Bogaerts situation.
Rafaela is still pretty raw from a major league perspective; he only appeared in 28 games last season for the Red Sox. After making the club out of spring training as a center fielder, Rafaela enters play on Thursday night, hitting .194 (7-for-36) with five RBIs, .244 OBP and .577 OPS.
Offensively, Rafaela is still a work in progress, but defensively, he is considered an elite defender and offers tremendous versatility to the Red Sox.
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