Alex Cora Explains Red Sox's Latest Ceddanne Rafaela Decision Amid Slump

There has to be a lot going through Ceddanne Rafaela's mind these days.

The Boston Red Sox's second-year man had a surge late in the first half of the season, making him a legitimate All-Star snub. But since returning from the All-Star break, and coinciding with the team's decision to play him at second base more often than his natural position of center field, he's been mired in a slump.

On Tuesday, with the Red Sox needing a win over the Baltimore Orioles to wrap up a mediocre homestand on a high note, Rafaela is on the bench against right-handed starter Tomoyuki Sugano.

Red Sox hoping extra day off turns Rafaela around

Manager Alex Cora explained the decision to take Rafaela out of the lineup for a day, as Jarren Duran will start in center field and Romy Gonzalez plays second base for the second game in a row.

“There's a lot there right now," said Cora, per Ian Browne of MLB.com. "So I think mental day will help him. I think, mechanics-wise, he's off, and that's something that me and (hitting coach) Pete (Fatse), we talked about it yesterday.

"So we'll work on a few things. Tomorrow's an off day. So hopefully he can get two and be ready for Thursday.”

Since the All-Star break, Rafaela is slashing just .194/.236/.252 without a home run in 28 games. He's appeared at second base in 18 of those games, after doing it just twice in the entire first half (out of 92 games).

In the final eight games before the break, he clubbed five home runs. The power outage has been obvious, and regardless of whether flipping between positions is affecting him, his swing hasn't looked right in weeks.

Rafaela is always going to be a player who chases too often, but when he was going well, he was swinging with authority and hitting balls hard in the air to the pull side. Right now, he's whiffing more, making more weak contact, and a lot of his hard contact is to the opposite field.

And the struggles are made doubly painful because the Red Sox, whether those on the outside agree with it or not, have taken away a lot of Rafaela's defensive value by playing him at second base (where he has zero outs above average) instead of center field (where he has 16).

Still just 24, Rafaela is going to have his ups and downs as he continues to grow. But anything the Red Sox can do to get him going again as soon as possible is going to adversely affect their playoff chances.

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