Red Sox prospect making bid for Opening Day roster

The Sox have five other outfielders on the roster: Jarren Duran, Tyler O'Neill, Rob Refsnyder, Wilyer Abreu and Masataka Yoshida. Manager Alex Cora says he remains undecided on who will make the Opening Day roster. 

"There's going to be some upset guys at the end [of spring training]," Cora told The Athletic's Chad Jennings. "But they have to understand this is how it goes. If you have to go to [Triple-A] Worcester at the start of the year, you go and put pressure on us to make the next decision. I'm comfortable with that. It's not the first time we have to make a tough decision."

Rafaela made his major league debut in August. In 28 games, he hit .241/.281/.386 with two home runs and five RBI. He struck out 28 times as a result of his poor plate discipline.

"We'll sit down as a group towards the end and decide what we want," Cora told Alex Speier of the Boston Globe in February. "If we're comfortable with a kid playing center field, understanding there's going to be struggles at the big league level in the offensive part of it, then we'll go that way. If we feel that he needs to go to the minor leagues and keep getting better and keep improving, we'll do that, too."

Rafaela has been putting in the work this winter. He says he spent most of the offseason working on his swing decisions in Tampa Bay. 

"I have the mentality to do my best to make this team," Rafaela said. "I'm not comfortable. I'm working hard to get a job. I feel awesome coming into the spring. I feel very confident. I think it's simple: Just prove to them that I belong, just show them that I can help this team win."

If Rafaela can put on a solid showing for the rest of spring training, the door seems to remain wide open for him to join the Opening Day roster.