He finished his first full season hitting .246 with a .664 OPS, 15 home runs, 75 RBIs and 19 stolen bases while playing elite defense at both shortstop and center field.

Now, as the Red Sox prepare for the 2025 season, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has a different plan for the 24-year-old from Curacao.

“I’m not sure we saw the best of him even defensively because of the fact that he was switching back and forth between center and shortstop,” Breslow said earlier this week (via. MassLive). “And so I think he’s a guy that we will try to keep in center as, as much as possible.”

In 87 games in center field last year, he was credited with 12 defensive runs saved and five outs above average.

It will be interesting to see how much playing time Rafaela gets with the big-league club in 2025, as the team currently has Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu playing in the outfield, and the arrival of baseball’s top prospect, Roman Anthony, is expected early in the year.

It’s possible that, if none of the other three are moved before that point, Rafaela sees time with Triple-A Worcester to continue getting at-bats to try and improve his offensive output.