Alex Cora is talking Soto, Bregman, Devers and the future
While the Red Sox ride out the offseason to make any final additions to their 2025 roster, Alex Cora offered his perspective on another huge storyline: the chance of some of the organization's highly-touted prospects making the team out of spring training.
Appearing on the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast, the Red Sox manager explained his approach when it came to viewing the candidacy of Top 100 prospects such as Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony.
"Look at what we’ve done the last few years," he said. "Ceddanne (Rafaela) last year. He got every chance to make that team, at-bats-wise and playing center field. The previous year we played (Enmanuel Valdez) Valdy and (Wilyer Abreu) Abreu a lot. If they are with us, they are going to play. There is no age limit to make to the big leagues. If we believe somebody can impact the big league team … It’s not impact. Because I think people have the wrong impression. For me, for how solid they are, I think they are part of what we’re trying to accomplish. I think sometimes people feel like they they’re going to carry us to the Promised Land."
Rafaela certainly got every chance to play a big role on the 2024 Red Sox heading into Opening Day, getting 69 plate appearances over 23 games. It was reminiscent of another young infielder trying to make the team back in 2007, when Dustin Pedroia got 73 plate appearances that exhibition season in 23 games.
Rafaela's 63 spring training at-bats tied Abreu for most on the team, with Casas' 62 plate appearances the year before leading the Red Sox.
"Dustin Pedroia didn’t carry the Red Sox in 2007," Cora said. "He was part of what we did. Was he a good player? Of course, but at the end it was (Kevin Youkilis) Youk, it was Mikey (Lowell), it was David (Ortiz), it was Manny (Ramirez), it was (Jason Varitek) Tek. We let him be. He hit ninth, and then, yeah, he ended up leading off against righties, hitting second against lefties and he did what he did. Jacoby Ellsbury that year. He came up for 15 days, we sent him down and he ended up playing center field for us.
"There are only two Rookie of the Year, one in the American League and one in the National League. Not everybody can be the Rookie of the Year, but there are a lot of rookies that can actually impact the big league team just being part of it. I hope they become the players we envision, that we’ve been talking about the last few years. Ceddanne Rafaela was a good big league player last year. Is that the final product? Of course not. He struggled the last month and a half, but at one point he was part of the offense. David Hamilton, he was part of the offense. We have to be care in terms of what we want. I want them to be the best players they can be and understand we’re trying to win games. You don’t have to come here and prove to people you belong. I think we have shown the last few years that when you’re here, you’re going to play. We did it with. Jarren (Duran). We did it with (Triston) Casas. We have done it with Wonger (Connor Wong). Hammy last year. Rafaela. That’s the way I see it."
Cora also discussed the work put in so far of some of the returning players, noting that Rafaela has put on 10 pounds of muscle, while Vaughn Grissom and Casas have looked in better shape while participating in Trevor Story's camp in the Dallas area.
And then there was identifying the player he believes will be the one worthy of saying he is in the best shape of his life ...