Rafaela's path to Red Sox OD roster remains in center

TAMPA, Fla. -- The outfield puzzle is still evolving for the Red Sox, who have now lost right-handed-hitting reserve Rob Refsnyder for at least a significant chunk of April due to a fractured left pinkie toe.

Ceddanne Rafaela, the club’s No. 4 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, remains at the center of the intrigue.

On the surface, it appeared that Refsnyder’s injury cracked the window more open for Rafaela to make the club.

For now, however, manager Alex Cora is sticking with his original premise that Rafaela will make the club only if he wins the starting job in center field.

Rafaela is an elite defender already, but his offense remains a work in progress.

“My preference is, if he makes the club, he plays center,” Cora said. “The reason [he has a chance to make this club] is because we do believe he can impact that position better than anyone else on this roster.”

In a scenario in which Rafaela claims the starting job in center, Jarren Duran would likely be the primary left fielder. Wilyer Abreu could get the bulk of the at-bats in right field against righties, with veteran Tyler O’Neill getting plenty of at-bats in both corner spots.

Masataka Yoshida, Boston’s primary left fielder last season, is expected to get most of his playing time at DH this season.

If Rafaela is sent to Triple-A to start the season, O’Neill would be the left fielder with Duran playing center and Abreu in right.

While Rafaela’s best position is center field, he is also comfortable at shortstop and second base.

Cora said that an organizational meeting is planned for this weekend, and utilizing Rafaela’s versatility is a topic that could come up.

With Vaughn Grissom set to start the season on the injured list with a left groin injury, Rafaela’s ability to play second base could come in handy.

“We’re going to meet over the weekend to go over a few things. Maybe we make adjustments,” Cora said. “We know he can play short. We know he can play second. How we can balance the roster so we can take advantage of this spot [vacated by Refsnyder]?”

Rafaela has put up good numbers (three homers, seven RBIs, .908 OPS) in 14 Grapefruit League games, but Cora is hesitant to say that has improved his chances of making the club.

“This is something I learned over the years, [not to read into] 10-for-20 or 0-for-20 [in Spring Training],” Cora said. “Like right now, I bet everybody's going crazy with Abreu because he’s striking out. Well, he's getting on base. He's not getting hits, but he has [8] walks. He has [14] strikeouts, yeah, we know that, but that’s not telling the whole story.”

The internal evaluations the Red Sox are making will mean much more than Rafaela’s Spring Training stat line.

“We’ve just got to be patient with the trends that we’re looking for,” Cora said. “He's improved in pitch selection, we know that. There’s other stuff that we want to see or we’re going to use to evaluate. And whenever we make that decision, I do believe it will be the right one.”

Casas goes deep off lefty
The first homer of Spring Training for Triston Casas was a bomb to right-center at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Wednesday that traveled a Statcast-projected 421 feet. It was one of two homers the Red Sox hit in their 9-4 win over the Yankees.

“I got it really well,” Casas said. “I think that’s all I’ve got, so thankfully that’s all I need.”

More significant than the Statcast metrics was the fact the longball came against Yankees lefty Carlos Rodón. Last season, Casas slashed just .215/.361/.456 against lefties with four homers in 97 plate appearances. This year, with Justin Turner no longer on the club, Casas is likely to get more opportunities to start against lefties.

“I held my own against lefties last year, which is what I wanted to do,” Casas said. “I felt like Turner was there to manage a lot of those at-bats at first base when we did have a lefty, so there wasn’t a whole lot of pressure on me to hit them very well. When I did have a chance to hit them, it was more like, ‘Let’s survive instead of thrive.’ Let’s see how this year goes in terms of my role. Definitely more damage against righties last year, I’m going to try to tap into that more against lefties this year and take more aggressive swings.”