Rafaela needed to start hitting since he’s likely the player currently holding off top prospect Romany Anthony from debuting with Boston. Yet, Rafaela is a talented young player in his own right and has a hit in nine of his last 12 games, going 12-for-44 (.272) with two home runs, nine RBI, and four steals over that span. Given that he also plays elite defense in center field, that’s going to convince the Red Sox to keep him in the lineup for the time being.

Even though the Red Sox are facing a right-handed pitcher, Rob Refsnyder will start in left field with Jarren Duran shifting over to center. Rafaela is a Gold Glove caliber centerfielder, and he has cut his strikeout rate under 19 percent so far this season, which are obvious reasons for the Red Sox to keep him in the lineup. However, he still swings and misses too much, and he has Roman Anthony, the top prospect in baseball, breathing down his neck, so Rafaela will need to start producing soon before he becomes a super utility player.

Rafaela has been mired in a season-long slump at the dish, hitting .219 (14-for-64) with one homer and four steals in 19 games. The 24-year-old has struggled to make hard contact this season with his average exit velocity (88.1 mph) ranking 186th out of 276 qualified hitters, per Statcast data. The plate skills have been better so far as he’s striking out only 17.1 percent of the time, but it seems to only be leading to more weak contact. The problem for Rafaela from a fantasy standpoint is that he’s the most likely to lose playing time once top prospect Roman Anthony arrives in the big leagues, which figures to be coming in the next few weeks, if not sooner.

Rafaela was one of four players in the Red Sox’ lineup with at least three hits on Sunday night, joining Jarren Duran, Rafael Devers and Alex Bregman. Even with this monster day at the dish though, his overall numbers on the season look quite underwhelming, as he’s slashing just .200/.273/.200 with zero homers, five RBI and a pair of stolen bases.