FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox Manager Alex Cora laid out the path for Ceddanne Rafaela very early in spring training. Rafaela would either be the team’s starting center fielder on Opening Day or he would be with Triple-A Worcester to further his development.

To claim the starting job in Boston, Cora added, Rafaela would need to demonstrate improved command of the strike zone and show more patience at the plate.

With less than two weeks before the Red Sox leave Florida, Rafaela remains squarely in the mix to break camp with the team. He entered Tuesday’s spring training game against the Cardinals with a .324 on-base percentage and a .500 slugging percentage with two homers. He added his third home run of the spring in the fourth inning of the Red Sox’s 8-6 loss to St. Louis.

Moreover, it’s not just the numbers – it’s also the quality of the at-bats.

“He’s playing well, man,” said Cora recently, “and controlling the strike zone, too. He knows when he’s swinging. Defensively, we know that (he’s capable). But for me, it’s more about controlling the strike zone and he’s been doing a good job of it.”

“I don’t think about making it hard for them,” said Rafaela said of the team’s decision making. “I’m just doing what I can do and trying to show them that I’m ready (to handle the big leagues).”

Rafaela’s improvement isn’t just measured in games. During daily sessions in the batting cage he’s showing he is a quick learner, capable of fine-tuning his approach.

“We’ve been challenging him virtually every day,” said hitting coach Pete Fatse. “He’s got specific things we’re targeting a couple of times per week and he’s doing a really good job there. And then in games, it’s really just the (swing) decisions. We’re trying to maintain his aggressiveness, but also being cognizant of the strike zone.

“His early-count swing decisions have been really good for him. He hasn’t been chasing early (in the count). He’s really been honing on the area he wants to impact and that sets him up for success as the count goes on and maintaining leverage. I think he’s done a really nice job with all of that.”

Unlike most free swingers, Rafaela doesn’t strike out at a high rate. However, when he goes out of the strike zone he does’t always make hard contact.

“He’s so gifted with his hands that he can make contact and can get to a lot of pitches,” said Fatse. “But trying to hone in on the ones that he can hit hard to the gap – that’s kind of his focus.”

His prescribed program in the cage varies daily, but typically, Fatse and the staff will gauge the quality of overall contact, or have him hunt pitches in a specific area of the strike zone.

Fatse has also noticed that Rafaela is adapting to specific situational hitting challenges, like putting the ball in play with two strikes and getting a runner home.

“We’ve also seen him battling,” said Fatse. “As much as we like to see good swing decisions early in the count, when he does fall behind he’s done a good job battling back. I’ve just been more impressed with the completion of the at-bat. It’s not just early-count swings, and it’s not just chasing with two strikes. He’s found a really nice middle ground.”

Rafaela said the key has been to take a plan to the plate for each at-bat, and to swing only at pitches he feels he can hit.

The Red Sox have been careful not to completely take away Rafaela’s aggressiveness.

“With Raffy (Devers), part of the aggression is what makes him really good and you never want that to go away,” Fatse said. “It’s ‘how do we channel it i the right area?’ And then, how do we create constraints around that? If you’re going to chase, you chase in an area where you look, not the entire area.”

“I think I’ve really shown them that I can help the team,” said Rafaela. “But at the end of the day, it’s not my decision, I’m just going to keep playing hard.”

The decision isn’t made in a vacuum. In addition to the improvement he’s made offensively, the Red Sox have to determine how having Rafaela in center will impact the remainder of the outfield alignment. If he takes over full-time in center, that could result in a battle for playing time in left between Jarren Duran and Tyler O’Neill, with Wilyer Abreu getting most of the playing time in right.

“Whatever decisions we make, we’re going to be very comfortable with it,” Cora said. “The addition of Tyler puts us at another level defensively, too. He’s that good. We’re going to be a lot better in the outfield this year.”

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