Red Sox rookie becomes first player in over 100 years to achieve this feat originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
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.
Ceddanne Rafaela is the first player since at least 1901 to play 60+ games at shortstop AND 60+ games in center field in the same season (h/t @EliasSports).He leads AL rookies in RBI (57), hits (100), runs (55), and total bases (163), and ranks 2nd in HR (13) and steals (16).
J.P. Long (@SoxNotes) August 5, 2024
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.