Inside The Rays

The Rays played like a better team than their 1-2 record currently shows, leading in Batting Average (.339), Hits (41), 2nd in OBP (.397), and were 3rd in Runs Scored (23). This highlights some of our spring and off-season thoughts on the team making a shift to a more contact-oriented approach and a team that will put the ball in play and make the defense work.Yandy Díaz had a historic day at the plate, Carson Williams continues to show off his improved hit tool and presence at the MLB level, and Joe Boyle showed off his new mix while not allowing a walk. We also highlight Tre' Morgan's great start to the season and Brody Hopkins unleashing his mix in his first AAA start, with a breaking ball that might be the best in baseball, let alone across Minor League Baseball.

The contact improvements addressed in the offseason were evident today with 17 hits, competitive at-bats, and standout days from multiple players. Jonathan Aranda had himself a 2-hit day with an impressive HR, while Yandy Diaz, Nick Fortes, and Ben Williamson all had 3-hit games, with Diaz standing out after leading all of baseball in hard-hit baseballs last season and Fortes impressing after striking out just once all spring. Drew Rasmussen looked strong in his 5 innings of work before a rough outing from Ian Seymour. Overall, there were a lot of positives from the group and we are excited to bring daily game recaps and other news as minor league baseball starts soon.

In this episode we recapped all the latest Spring action, including players like Ben Williamson, Jake Fraley, Shane McClanahan, Nick Martinez and more. We also talked about some of the latest injury news, and how that will impact the roster to start the season.

Carson Williams continues his great spring showing with improved plate discipline and quality contact. Xavier Isaac is squaring balls up when he's not drawing walks, and Jake Fraley seems to be getting on base every other at bat. We talk WBC, not only the MLB talent but also the organizational depth and minor league talent that has impressed in the tournament. We also give our thoughts on a Rays reliever we think could make a huge impact in Yoendrys Gómez. Thank you for all the continued support recently!

Junior Caminero has been smoking the ball early this spring and carried that into his WBC exhibition ABs, posting a 109.2 MPH AVG EV with a new 118.5 MPH Max EV. We also talk about Shane McClanahan’s emotional return, tossing two scoreless innings, and wrap things up with our WBC predictions and players to watch on each team.

In this episode, we look back at the last week of Rays Spring Training and go over some early standouts. Junior Caminero is already stacking 110+ EVs, Jacob Melton launched a 112+ MPH homer, Yandy Diaz left the yard the other way multiple times, and Theo Gillen showed his mature approach with an eight pitch walk in his first spring AB.On the mound, Steven Matz and Ryan Pepiot each threw scoreless innings in their first outings, Jake Woodford has been steady, and Ty Johnson has carried over his swing and miss stuff after posting a 17.7% SwStr% last year. We also touch on Drew Rasmussen mixing in a new changeup, along with a few other arms who have looked sharp early. Still early, but some really good signs from this past week.

Welcome to Inside The Rays everyone! In the first episode, we summarized the offseason moves, talked about the first week of spring training, and more!