Craig Breslow credits Alex Cora, the team and Red Sox staff for remaining focused on their performance on the field while they hoped for reinforcements at the trade deadline.
Versatility is a valuable skill in any professional sport, including baseball.
And few players in Major League Baseball this season have been more versatile than Boston Red Sox rookie Ceddanne Rafaela.
Rafaela has played several different positions in 2024, primarily at shortstop and center field. In fact, he is the first player in more than 120 years to play 60-plus games at both shortstop and center field in the same season.
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Rafaela is batting .257 with 13 home runs, 57 RBIs and a .286 on-base percentage as a rookie this season. And, as noted in the tweet above, he ranks No. 1 or No. 2 among rookies in many statistical categories.
He plays with the kind of speed and flair that has made the Red Sox fun to watch and competitive. Boston begins a crucial three-game road series against the Kansas City Royals on Monday night. The Royals lead the Red Sox by 2.5 games for the third and final wild card spot in the American League.
Making the playoffs for the first time since 2021 would obviously be a great outcome for the Red Sox. But you could argue that, at least to this point, the season has already been a success because of the positive development many of the franchise's young players have made.
Rafaela is near the top of that list, and it wouldn't be surprising if he closed out the 2024 campaign with a very strong case for the AL Rookie of the Year Award.
