Top prospect Ceddanne Rafaela isn’t on Team Netherlands’ World Baseball Classic roster in spite of everything.
The Curaçao native was a neverending spotlight reel with High-Greenville and Double-A Portland in 2022, a lot in order that Portland supervisor Chad Epperson informed reporters the younger prospect is a greater defender than Mookie Betts had been on the similar level in his skilled profession. At the top of the season, Rafaela was named Red Sox Defensive Player of the Year.
Rafaela cracked the preseason Top 100 at Baseball America (No. 71), Baseball Prospectus (No. 73) and MLB (No. 86). Within the group, he’s now the No. 3 prospect, behind Marcelo Mayer and Triston Casas, who will probably be out of rookie eligibility very quickly; after impressing in his transient September debut, Casas is anticipated to be the beginning first baseman for the massive league staff.
The Red Sox added Rafaela to the 40-man roster in November, defending him from the Rule 5 Draft. This will probably be his first spring coaching at main league camp, and there’s been dialogue of him beginning the 12 months in Triple-A Worcester. Sources inform the Herald that Rafaela’s plate self-discipline is the one factor really holding him again from the penultimate stage. While he led the group’s certified hitters with a .299 common and 144 hits – together with 32 doubles, 10 triples, and 21 dwelling runs – he additionally struck out 113 instances and stole extra bases (28) than he drew walks (26) in 116 video games.
Rafaela spent a portion of the offseason enjoying for Criollos de Caguas, Alex Cora’s hometown staff from the Puerto Rican Winter League. Over 76 plate appearances, he drew 9 walks for an 11.8% price, an enchancment over his meager 5% price in the course of the 2022 MiLB season.
With Kiké Hernández and Adam Duvall each below contract for one 12 months, and Jarren Duran’s future unsure, Rafaela may very properly be Boston’s middle fielder of the long run, so the Red Sox aren’t going to hurry his improvement.
Members of the Red Sox group collaborating within the WBC: Jorge Alfaro, Richard Bleier, Rafael Devers, Duran, Ian Gibaut, Rio Gomez, Norwith Gudino, Hernández, Nick Pivetta, Henry Ramos, Alex Verdugo and Masataka Yoshida.
Older than Fenway
Compared to its compatriots, Fenway is a dinosaur.
‘America’s Most Beloved Ballpark’ first opened its doorways in April 1912, the identical week the Titanic sunk. Wrigley Field, the National League’s oldest ballpark, first opened in 1914, and have become the house of the Chicago Cubs in 1916. No different MLB ballpark in use at this time is older than 1962; Oriole Park at Camden Yards is now MLB’s tenth oldest ballpark, and it opened in 1992.
When present possession bought the Red Sox in 2002, they rescued Fenway from demolition, sinking a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands into refurbishing and renovating the crown jewel of Boston’s Emerald Necklace.
The Red Sox fully renovated the sector and drainage system in 2004, so senior director of grounds Dave Mellor was shocked to unearth a glass bottle this week. He shared a sequence of photographs to his Instagram account, which he makes use of to doc varied Fenway initiatives, together with the set up of latest, energy-efficient mild bulbs that may illuminate evening video games this 12 months.
Mellor famous the “interesting rounded bottom and cool bubbles,” and confirmed the piece of cork nonetheless lodged within the prime.
Cork tops date again to the 18th century, however True Legacy Homes specifies that the blob form of the bottle lip is a method that was used between 1840-70. While it’s unclear precisely how outdated the bottle is, the existence of bubbles within the glass suggests the bottle predates 1920. Red Sox spokesperson Zineb Curran informed the Boston Globe that this mannequin was final produced in 1910.
It’s not solely an interesting discovery, however a probably profitable one; vintage bottles in good situation can fetch hundreds of {dollars}. One man in New Zealand has a set valued at over $80,000.
Big spenders
Fans might not agree with how Red Sox possession spends cash, however there’s no denying they spend. Since buying the staff for a then-record $660 million, which was greater than double the worth paid for any MLB staff on the time, Fenway Sports Group has sunk billions into the ballpark and gamers.
According to Red Sox Payroll (not affiliated with the staff), the Red Sox have gone over the posh tax threshold 11 instances within the 21 seasons because the threshold was first applied within the 2002 Collective Bargaining Agreement; solely the Yankees have extra tax-paying seasons (17), and the 2 rivals are the one two golf equipment with double-digit seasons in extra. To date, solely 12 golf equipment have ever paid the penalty.
Currently, the payroll sits at $225 million, giving the Red Sox a little bit of respiratory room below this 12 months’s $233 million threshold. Staying below this 12 months would allow the franchise to reset, as they have been over the edge in 2022.
Source: www.bostonherald.com