Covering the Triangle: Who Did It Best?

Ceddane Rafaela continues to amaze with his glove. Yesterday was no exception as he turned his back to the plate and headed back to the triangle in Fenway in pursuit of a deep fly ball off the bat of Ramón Urías. There was no doubt Rafaela was going to track the ball down, it was just a matter of how.

Rafaela didn't let fans down as he slid and caught the ball in front of the 420-foot marker. Like a dancer, Rafaela popped up from his slide in one continuous motion as if it was just another day in the office.

And for Rafaela it was just another day. It is almost as if he was born to play centerfield. It is easy to forget he has only been playing the position since 2021.

Playing centerfield at Fenway is unlike any other park in the league. Sure, there are parks that may be as challenging as Fenway in terms of distance, wind, sun, and height of walls.

There’s no other park in Major League Baseball, however, where a center fielder ends a full sprint by crashing into a triangle. At Fenway, depending on the direction you're tracking the ball, you might find yourself staring up at a 36-foot wall with a ladder bolted to it, veering toward an 18-foot wall hiding a massive garage door, or barreling into the infamous triangle in right-center—where a mistimed leap could leave you tumbling over the short wall and into the opposing bullpen, just like Torii Hunter did in one of Fenway’s most unforgettable moments.

Watching the skid mark Ceddanne Rafaela left in the deepest shadows of the warning track—right in Fenway’s famed triangle—brought back a flood of memories. I’ve seen so many Red Sox center fielders over the years chase balls into that exact same spot, each with their own style and level of fearlessness.

Some treaded gingerly, taking jagged steps and bending over to cautiously retrieve the ball like it had just fallen from Cujo’s frothing mouth. Others charge into the triangle like a bat out of hell, undeterred by what they might find.

It takes a special breed to succeed playing center field in Fenway.

Here’s my list of the best Red Sox center fielders – over the last 50 years – to patrol the hallowed ground that stretches before the bleachers at Fenway:

🧤 Tier 3: Would Have Loved to Have Seen Them Here in Their Prime

Tony Armas (1984-1986)

The mustached one was one of my first favorite players when I was in elementary school – he had a great name. He was best known for his power – he hit an MLB-best 43 home runs his first year with the Red Sox in 1984. That would be impressive now, but, at the time, it was good enough to rank second in Red Sox history for most home runs in a season.

What people tend to forget is how good Armas was, defensively. What made him special was the cannon he had for an arm. Just a few years before joining Boston, he led all outfielders with 17 assists while playing for Oakland. His assist numbers weren't spectacular with the Red Sox, but by then, baserunners knew not to run on him – or Dwight Evans in right field.

Darren Lewis (1998-2001)

I usually think of Lewis running down balls in Triples Alley with the Giants, not in a Red Sox uniform. But he played 185 games in center for Boston late in his career, and while his range had dipped a bit, he was still steady. He rarely made mistakes, played clean defense, and gave pitchers confidence that anything hit near him would be handled. Not flashy—but solid, and probably underappreciated.

Otis Nixon (1994)

The same could be said for Otis Nixon. His highlight catch came two years earlier with the Braves when he scaled the wall in right-center to rob Andy Van Slyke of a home run – still one of the greatest catches I've ever seen.

In his lone season with the Red Sox, he stole 42 bases and played 93 games in center. I barely remember it. Then again, the '90s were kind of a blur, but those were my college years.

🧱 Tier 2: I Could Have Been a Contender

Jacoby Ellsbury (2008-2013)

Before Jarren Duran, there was Jacoby Ellsbury. Every time I see Duran with the bat and on the base paths, I see Ellsbury. The speedy left-handed Ellsbury was much better covering centerfield, though.

It seems just like yesterday talk radio was dominated by fans upset John Henry didn't match the seven-year, $153 million it took for the rival Yankees to snatch the home grown talent away. It turned out to be a prudent move as the Yankees wound up paying Ellsbury about $300,000 per game as he managed to only play 520 games for the New Yorkers.

The only thing that held Ellsbury back was his lack of an arm. It wasn't as bad as Johnny Damon (who doesn't make my list), but it wasn't that much better.

Steve Lyons (1985-1986)

This one might raise some eyebrows, but I have vivid, fond memories of Steve Lyons laying out for balls in center over the span of a few wild months in the summer of 1985. When Rick Miller went down with a leg injury early that year, Lyons — known more for his versatility as a utility infielder, but also for his oddball antics — was suddenly called upon to play center field. And to his credit, he played the position with the kind of reckless abandon that fit his “Psycho” nickname. He wasn’t perfect, but he was fearless and he was fun to watch. He was also one of the most exciting Red Sox call-ups I can remember, and that’s why he makes this list.

Ceddane Rafaela (2023-present)

Rafaela has only played about 130 games in centerfield – but every time he makes a catch like he did yesterday, he climbs closer to the top tier.

Rafaela has gotten lost in the shuffle of Boston's future stars as the focus has shifted to Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell, and Roman Anthony, but that's fine. Rafaela just keeps making highlight plays at the big league level. What I love is when he gets mad the few times he doesn't make a play or if he doesn't throw out a runner trying to get an extra base.

He is a special talent. Let's just hope his bat keeps him in the league.

🧢 Tier 1: Simply the Best

Coco Crisp (2006-2008)

There have only been two Red Sox pitchers I rearranged my schedule for – Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez. I would stop anything I was doing around the house to watch Nomar Garciaparra, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz... or Dave Stapleton (don't judge me) hit.

However, watching a great player play defense has always been different. It keeps you on your toes at all times. You never knew which pitch out of 125-plus will become that highlight reel play everyone will be talking about tomorrow.

Steve Lyons was that guy for me in the summer of 1985. Every base hit to right field when there was a runner on second always shifted me to the edge of my seat when "Dewey" Evans played out.

Coco Crisp stirred up the same emotions in me. Man, did I enjoy watching him in center. He could cover ground like it was no one's business. In 2007, Crisp posted a UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) of +15.2 – second best among center fielders.

It is one thing to make great catches during the regular season, but Crisp's diving catch in Game 7 of the 2007 ALCS against Cleveland is something no one else on this list can claim (except maybe Lynn).

I am getting a tear in my eye just thinking about it.

Fred Lynn (1975-1980)

The OG. The reason the Green Monster has padding at the base of the wall is thanks to Lynn. That's right – before Fred Lynn, there was no padding on the wall.

Outfielders that chose to chase fly balls all the way to the wall paid the price. Lynn didn't just choose to bang into the concrete wall – he tried to run through it. Nothing was going to get in the way of him catching a ball.

In many ways, Lynn was a composite of all the centerfielders on this list – a smooth lefty like Ellsbury, grace like Armas, Spider Man skills like Nixon, instincts like Crisp, and fearlessness like Lyons.

Carlton Fisk once said about Lynn, "Fred made plays out there that other guys wouldn't even try for."

That is why he won Gold Gloves in each of his first four years in the league. That was just unheard of, at the time.

Unfortunately, that fearlessness cut his career short. He played more than 129 games in only two of his six seasons with Boston.

The Red Sox will never have an outfield like Rice, Lynn, and Evans again. It is one of the ultimate "what could have been" moments in Red Sox history. If they could have stayed healthy? If they could have stayed together?

When Lynn was traded to the Angels, I was ten—it destroyed me. Just a month earlier, the Sox had shipped off the entire left side of their infield—Rick “The Rooster” Burleson and Butch Hobson—to those same Angels. The final blow of that 1980-81 "offseason from Hell" came when the Red Sox botched filing Carlton Fisk's contract at the deadline, allowing the White Sox to swoop in and steal him.

But I digress. As much as I wanted to give the title of Best Defensive Red Sox Center Fielder to Lynn, the honor has to go to...

Jackie Bradley Jr. (2013-2022)

No one else on this list had the same combination of arm, speed, and athletic ability as Bradley. He was A++ in all three categories, and he knew it. In later years, he would often loaf after balls or make basket catches. It just looked too easy to him. Honestly, his cockiness had me debating ranking Lynn above him.

But when Bradley had to get on his gitty up, it was a sight to behold. Watching Lynn play center field was like watching a mix of a lion, gazelle, and a unicorn. Watching Bradley? That was liking watching a thoroughbred crossed with a kangaroo.

There was nothing better than watching a hard hit ball to the gap and lining up the trajectory of the ball with the track Bradley was taking and thinking, "There is no way he gets there." But he always did.

He made the impossible look routine. It was like watching a magician do a performance in the middle of a game. What did I just see?

That's what puts him atop my list – the sheer volume of great defensive plays over an extended period of time in a Red Sox uniform.

Everyone who’s watched the Red Sox their entire lives has a center field moment that sticks in their head. Maybe it was watching a diving catch by Coco, a laser throw from JBJ nailing a runner at third, Ellsbury racing in to catch a line drive just before the ball clipped the grass, or – for old timers like me – watching #19 leap and crash into the non-padded wall in left center.

Rafaela is carrying on that Red Sox tradition of greatness in center.

I’ve listed the players who stood out most to me over the last 50 years. Now I’m curious: who’s on your list? Which plays do you still think about when you look at the triangle in center field?