BOSTON, MA—The Boston Red Sox today signed infielder/outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela to an eight-year contract extension that spans the 2024-2031 seasons, with a club option for 2032.

Rafaela, 23, is the youngest player on the Red Sox’ active roster. Ranked a top 100 prospect by both MLB.com (No. 76) and Baseball America (No. 94), he made his first Opening Day roster in 2024 and joined Mookie Betts as the only players in the last 50 years to start each of the Red Sox’ first three games of a season in center field at the age of 23 or younger. Rated by Baseball America as the best defensive outfielder in Boston’s minor league system prior to each season from 2021-24, Rafaela has been recognized by the Red Sox as the organization’s Minor League Defensive Player of the Year (2021, ’22) and Minor League Base Runner of the Year (2023).

In 39 Major League games, Rafaela has hit .233 (27-for-116) with seven doubles, two triples, two home runs, and four stolen bases while making 20 starts in center field, five at shortstop, and one at second base. When he made his Major League debut in 2023, he became the 17^th player in Major League history born in Curaçao, joining Kenley Jansen as the only players from the island to play for the Red Sox. He made his debut at only 22 years old on August 28, 2023, against the Houston Astros, recording a single in his first plate appearance en route to batting .368 (14-for-38) with a 1.032 OPS in his first 15 career games. On September 12, 2023, he started Game 1 of a doubleheader against the New York Yankees at shortstop, then started Game 2 in center field and led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run off Carlos Rodón.

Signed by Boston as an international free agent on July 2, 2017, Rafaela was ranked by Baseball America as a top 30 Red Sox prospect entering 2020 (No. 24), 2021 (No. 29), and 2022 (No. 22) before climbing to No. 4 in the 2022 mid-season rankings. He is the only minor leaguer since 2020 to record as many as 30 doubles, 10 triples, and 20 home runs in a season, having accomplished the feat in 2022, a season in which he was selected to play in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game. He stole at least 20 bases in each season from 2021-23, notably setting a Double-A Portland single-game franchise record with six steals on May 13, 2023 against Somerset.

Rafaela was signed by Red Sox scouts Dennis Neuman, Rolando Pino, and Todd Claus.