Red Sox refusing to play prospect despite near-nonexistent postseason hopes

Top prospect Ceddanne Rafaela has found limited playing time with the Boston Red Sox since being called up at the end of August despite an overall strong performance at the plate in the majors so far, going 7-for-16 with two doubles.

When asked about Rafaela’s playing time, manager Alex Cora told reporters (including MassLive’s Chris Cotillo) that Rafaela will continue to play in a reserve role as long as the club remains in the playoff race.

While the playoff odds at Fangraphs give the Red Sox just a 1.3 percent chance to make the postseason after Saturday night’s loss to the Baltimore Orioles, Boston still has three games to go against each of the two clubs directly ahead of them in the standings, the Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays.

That gives them a slim opening for a miracle run despite being a whopping seven games back of the final AL wild-card spot with just three weeks to go in the regular season.

With Rafaela’s first taste of everyday action in the big leagues on hold for the time being, the versatile youngster figures to share time at second base with Enmanuel Valdez while also offering backup options to Trevor Story at shortstop and Adam Duvall in center field.