News and notes from around Red Sox Nation.
Ceddanne Rafaela is having one hell of a debut season, leading all American League rookies in runs, hits, and triples, and ranking second in stolen bases and third in homers. Now, he’s made history in another interesting way: no player in MLB history has ever played as many games at centerfield and shortstop in one season (61 and 68, respectively) as he has in 2024. (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)
Hopefully, though, Ceddanne won’t play as much shortstop in the future — not only because it’s not his best position, but because Marcelo Mayer will take over the spot. Though as one prominent prospect evaluator notes, Mayer still has some big things to work on, as he really struggled against breaking stuff this year. (Keith Law, The Athletic)
And, anyway, making statistically weird defensive history isn’t as cool as making the postseason. And with the Red Sox failing to take advantage of lackluster play by both the Royals and Twins, Alex Cora is starting to admit that the team is running out of time. (Christopher Smith, MassLive)
The big issue in this current slump is the offensive lack of offensive production. Some people (umm, me included) hoped that Danny Jansen would provide a boost to the lineup, but he’s done very little with the bat since coming over in a trade with the Blue Jays. (Julian McWilliams, Boston Globe)
One day, Roman Anthony, Kyle Teel, and Kristian Campbell may give the lineup a boost. That’s what Rich Hill thinks, after spending some time with them down in AAA. (Trevor Haas, Boston.com)