Welcome to Steinbrenner Field. At least it's not the bloody Trop.
The Rays are puttering along, a couple of games below .500, with what looks like a slightly below average offence offset by being a little better than average at preventing the other team from scoring. It's not immediately clear how they do this - at first glance, they appear to have just one good hitter and just one good pitcher, neither of whom is exactly a proven big time sort of guy.
The pitcher is tonight's starter, Drew Rasmussen, and Rasmussen has in fact always been quite a good pitcher for Tampa Bay - it's just that he's spent so much time on the IL that it's hard to regard him as someone to be counted on. This is his fifth season there, and while he's gone 21-15, 2.75 on their behalf, he's been able to give them more than 59 IP in a season just once. But he's taking the ball tonight, and he's reliably good when he does.
The hitter is first baseman Jonathan Aranda, who has spent the past three seasons going back and forth between Tampa Bay and AAA Durham. In 110 major league games, he hit .222/.309/.382 with 10 HR in 293 ABs. He had demonstrated three years ago, back in 2022, that he was much too good for AAA, but he didn't do much in his major league cups of the coffee, and the Rays didn't seem to have figured out just where he was going to play. He had mostly been a second baseman to that point, and Brandon Lowe was rather firmly entrenched at that spot for the major league team. SO rinse and repeat for 2023. And 2024. This time around, the Rays have put Aranda at first base with Yandy Diaz moving to the DH spot. So far, so good - but he's hitting .390 on his BallsInPlay, and that can't continue indefinitely.
Another comparatively new face in the Tampa lineup is third baseman Junior Caminero, the 21 year old from the Dominican, who held his own in a 43 game look last season. Caminero has hit into 14 GIDPs in just 45 games, which leads the majors, by quite a bit. Well of course it does - Caminero is on a pace to hit into 46 of the damned things by the time the season is over, which would completely obliterate the single season record (36, by Jim Rice in 1984.) So that's something to keep track of!
Oh, they got other guys. I know. Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe aren't hitting a whole lot yet, but that probably won't last forever. Shane Baz, Taj Bradley, Zack Littell - they haven't been very good but they'll probably pitch better. Their pitchers as a staff don't strike out a lot of guys, but they don't walk many either. And their defenders don't make many errors and they turn the double play very well.
I'm sure they will do their best to be their usual irritating selves. But at least we don't have to put up with the bloody Trop.
Matchups
Fri 23 May - Lauer (1-0, 2.25) vs Rasmussen (2-4, 2.93)
Sat 24 May - Berrios (1-1, 4.19) vs Baz (3-3, 5.33)
Sun 25 May - Bassitt (4-2, 2.83) vs Pepiot (2-5, 3.99)
The Rays are puttering along, a couple of games below .500, with what looks like a slightly below average offence offset by being a little better than average at preventing the other team from scoring. It's not immediately clear how they do this - at first glance, they appear to have just one good hitter and just one good pitcher, neither of whom is exactly a proven big time sort of guy.
The pitcher is tonight's starter, Drew Rasmussen, and Rasmussen has in fact always been quite a good pitcher for Tampa Bay - it's just that he's spent so much time on the IL that it's hard to regard him as someone to be counted on. This is his fifth season there, and while he's gone 21-15, 2.75 on their behalf, he's been able to give them more than 59 IP in a season just once. But he's taking the ball tonight, and he's reliably good when he does.
The hitter is first baseman Jonathan Aranda, who has spent the past three seasons going back and forth between Tampa Bay and AAA Durham. In 110 major league games, he hit .222/.309/.382 with 10 HR in 293 ABs. He had demonstrated three years ago, back in 2022, that he was much too good for AAA, but he didn't do much in his major league cups of the coffee, and the Rays didn't seem to have figured out just where he was going to play. He had mostly been a second baseman to that point, and Brandon Lowe was rather firmly entrenched at that spot for the major league team. SO rinse and repeat for 2023. And 2024. This time around, the Rays have put Aranda at first base with Yandy Diaz moving to the DH spot. So far, so good - but he's hitting .390 on his BallsInPlay, and that can't continue indefinitely.
Another comparatively new face in the Tampa lineup is third baseman Junior Caminero, the 21 year old from the Dominican, who held his own in a 43 game look last season. Caminero has hit into 14 GIDPs in just 45 games, which leads the majors, by quite a bit. Well of course it does - Caminero is on a pace to hit into 46 of the damned things by the time the season is over, which would completely obliterate the single season record (36, by Jim Rice in 1984.) So that's something to keep track of!
Oh, they got other guys. I know. Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe aren't hitting a whole lot yet, but that probably won't last forever. Shane Baz, Taj Bradley, Zack Littell - they haven't been very good but they'll probably pitch better. Their pitchers as a staff don't strike out a lot of guys, but they don't walk many either. And their defenders don't make many errors and they turn the double play very well.
I'm sure they will do their best to be their usual irritating selves. But at least we don't have to put up with the bloody Trop.
Matchups
Fri 23 May - Lauer (1-0, 2.25) vs Rasmussen (2-4, 2.93)
Sat 24 May - Berrios (1-1, 4.19) vs Baz (3-3, 5.33)
Sun 25 May - Bassitt (4-2, 2.83) vs Pepiot (2-5, 3.99)
