Red Sox Outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela Draws Comparisons to Pete Crow-Armstrong originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Pete Crow-Armstrong’s breakout 2025 season has showcased all the tell-tale signs of MVP-level talent. His skillset, which combines power, speed, contact-hitting, and Gold Glove defense, makes him one of MLB’s few five-tool players. However, PCA differentiates himself from the other five-tool players by excelling in all aspects of the game.
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Thus far, PCA is establishing himself as one of the game’s top talents. But there are some out there that think a Boston Red Sox outfielder isn’t far behind. According to Chad Jennings of The Athletic, Boston thinks centerfielder Ceddanne Rafaela is close to, not just a breakout, but a PCA-type breakout. Jennings had this to report:
“The easiest path for the Boston Red Sox to promote top prospect Roman Anthony, give him regular playing time, and perhaps jolt their lagging offense would be to move versatile center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela to the infield and use Anthony in center.
Boston Red Sox center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela (3), right, celebrates catching a fly out against the Detroit Tigers.Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
“It hasn’t happened, in part, because the Red Sox see Rafaela as one of the truly elite defenders in baseball and believe he may be on the verge of a breakout akin to what the Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong has delivered this season.”
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Rafaela hasn’t exactly seen much success at the plate this season, hitting to the tune of a .252/.296/.411 slash line with 6 home runs (made history with shortest walk-off home run on Wednesday) and seven stolen bases. At a mere glance, a performance at this level isn’t reminiscent of PCA at all. When not including his defense, his .296 on-base percentage has made him a contributor to the team’s ever-growing litany of woes. Still, Jennings thinks his stats don’t truly represent his talent, and he may be right.
Rather than his stat line, Jennings points to Rafaela’s metrics to make his point. When looking at PCA’s Baseball Savant page alongside Rafaela’s, they both look nearly the same. Both barrel the ball at similarly high rates, have near-identical fielding metrics, sprint at similar speeds, and draw walks at low rates. Besides the low walk rate, everything else is a plus. Rafaela also makes more hard contact than PCA. But even if the PCA comparison turns out to be a little bit of a stretch, should Rafaela just find the right launch angle and draw more walks, he could still be a five-tool asset for Boston.
Related: MLB Insider Creates Wild Red Sox-Padres Trade Idea
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 5, 2025, where it first appeared.