‘Overlooked’ Red Sox Star Given Shoutout In ESPN’s Midseason Awards Watch

The Boston Red Sox couldn’t celebrate their hottest hitter during the MLB All-Star Game, but at least he received some national love from ESPN.

Ceddanne Rafaela entered the All-Star break batting .271/.314/.483 with 14 home runs and 13 stolen bases. The 24-year-old didn’t garner his first All-Star invite despite possessing the third-highest WAR (3.4) among all American League outfielders.

National observers are starting to give Rafaela his flowers amid a breakout year. In his midseason MLB awards breakdown, ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle listed Rafaela seventh in the AL MVP race based on his AXE rating system.

Doolittle highlighted an “overlooked” Rafaela as the player to “Keep an eye on” during the second half.

“No, he isn’t going to overtake (Aaron) Judge in the MVP race, but one of baseball’s most unique players deserves a little run,” Doolittle wrote. “After splitting time between shortstop and center field in 2024, Rafaela has played almost exclusively on the grass this season, and his defensive metrics have been off the charts. That’s driving this ranking, but Rafaela also has made tremendous strides at the plate. After entering the season with a career OPS+ of 83, he has upped that number to 118 in 2025 and is on pace for a 20/20 campaign.”

Rafaela has made monumental strides during his second full season, batting a blistering .316/.350/.654 with 11 home runs and a higher wRC+ (172) than Cal Raleigh since the start of June. He’s already gone deep five times this month, including a walk-off home run last Friday night.

As Doolittle mentioned, Rafaela justifying first-place votes remains remarkably far-fetched. It’s almost certainly a two-man race, as Judge entered the break batting .355/.462/.733 while Raleigh set an AL record with 38 first-half home runs.

Nevertheless, Rafaela ranking seventh on Doolittle’s MVP leaderboard highlights the absurdity of eight AL outfielders — including frequent designated hitter Brent Rooker and replacement Randy Arozarena — being chosen ahead of him for the All-Star Game.