KANSAS CITY — Minutes after the Red Sox dispatched the Kansas City Royals 9-5 Monday night, Ceddanne Rafaela sat hunched in his chair, his eyes staring at his phone.
He had not had the opportunity to admire the catch he had made in the fifth inning and was just now getting a look at his own defensive brilliance.
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“I tried to see it on the IPad (in the dugout), but I really couldn’t,” said Rafaela with a somewhat sheepish smile. “I just saw it. It was a good catch. That play right there, I didn’t even realize it (the degree of difficulty). Now, I’m seeing it and I’m like, ‘Wow.’ It was a good catch.”
Talk about an understatement. Rafaela contributed one of the best defensive plays of the season in the bottom of the fifth inning. With the Red Sox and Royals tied at 2-2, Maikel Garcia hit a booming drive to straightaway center.
Thanks to a tough sky at dusk, Rafaela had trouble picking up the ball initially, making what he was about to do all the more remarkable. He sprinted back the wall, anticipating where he thought the ball might be, and as he reached the warning track, stuck out his glove, backhand-style. He snared the ball a millisecond before slamming into the padded wall.
“I didn’t have the perfect route,” he said, “but I was sprinting back, I just tried to catch the ball. I didn’t really think about having to make it backhanded. It just happened in the moment.”
“He’s so special,” said Alex Cora. “He’s elite in center field. That play was amazing. It’s a long way there, it’s 411 (feet). Obviously, there’s a lot of room to cover and he did an amazing job.”
His own teammates, who had watched in real time, were singing his praises throughout the room. The amazing thing is, Rafaela is only a part-time outfielder, having split time between center and shortstop.
“He’s unbelievable,” gushed Connor Wong. “You see him, tracking a ball down like that. He ends up with it and you’re kind of in awe. Even though you see him do it before, again and again. You’re just impressed every time. (Moving between short and center) makes it more impressive, too. But the kind of athlete he is, he can do it all.”
Reminded that he has also played several positions, Wong interrupted.
“Not like that,” he said shaking his head. “Not like that. He’s a different breed, for sure.”
“I hung that curveball,” confessed James Paxton, “and (Garcia) smoked it. That was amazing.”
A good catch, indeed.
