That the Red Sox would have one of the best all-around players in baseball in their outfield this season wasn’t unexpected. That it proved to be Ceddanne Rafaela, and not Roman Anthony, is the surprising part.
Rafaela arrived at Fenway Park for Wednesday night’s 4-0 victory over the White Sox with 5.4 bWAR, the all-encompassing statistic as calculated by Baseball-Reference.com. That’s tied for the third among position players with Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez. Only Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (MLB-best 7.0) and Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez (5.5) have more.
A large percentage of Rafaela’s value is his outstanding defense in center field. But this season has featured a significant improvement at the plate with career-bests in batting average (.287), on-base percentage (.329), and slugging percentage (.475).
Through Tuesday, he was tied for second in the majors in doubles with 28. Rafaela also made the All-Star team for the first time.
Read more from Peter Abraham at BostonGlobe.com/Sports. | 
