Tampa Bay Rays : 2025 Team Profile
A preview of the 2025 Tampa Bay Rays
2024 Record: 80 - 82
2025 Projected Record: 83 - 79
Notable Offseason Moves
Signed INF Ha-Seong Kim for 2 years - $29 million
Signed C Danny Jansen for 1 year - $8.5 million
Received SP Alex Faedo from DET in exchange for C Enderson Delgado
What to Watch For in Spring Training
I’ll be honest; I have no idea what to make of this team. The Rays are the most befuddling team in Major League Baseball. They can go from winning 100 games one year, to 80 the next with virtually the same roster. It makes no sense.
They are quite the boom or bust team, and if history is telling us anything, they’re due for a boom year. The last four seasons, they’ve won 100, 86, 99, and 80 games. So if the pattern is to continue, we’re looking at a 98 win season.
I doubt that, but who knows with them. There’s a lot to like with this club, and a lot of question marks, as well. The top of the lineup is solid. The pitching staff is solid. The back half of the lineup is dicey.
This spring, though, there a ton of younglings to keep an eye on. Carson Williams, being one of the premiere prospects in the sport, is at the top of the list. Shortstop is a heavy need for Tampa, and he is seemingly the SS of the future.
He is a defensive wizard at one of the most important positions on the field. He has won minor league gold gloves, and is praised for his quickness and arm strength, allowing him to make very difficult plays look relatively simple. In addition to that, he can mash.
His average can come up a bit, and I think it will as he gets more accustomed to recognizing pitches, and swinging at more strikes, but the power numbers are gaudy. Back to back 20/20 seasons in the minors, with 2022 falling short by just one singular home run. The display of power and speed, to go along with the stellar defense has his ceiling as high as anyone’s in the minors.
Tre’ Morgan is another one. While the lack of pop is a bit concerning from a first baseman, he has an incredible ability to put bat on ball. He struck out just 48 times in 421 plate appearances in 2024, which was good enough to have ranked him sixth among 600+ qualified hitters with at least 400 PAs. That’s pretty good. Additionally, he’s another projected gold glove winning defender, so it appears Tampa Bay may have a type.
The Ha-Seong Kim addition is interesting. He’s going to start the season on the IL as he continues to recover from offseason shoulder surgery, but he should be a great fit on this team once he returns. He hits for a lower average, but doesn’t strike out a bunch and can cause havoc on the bases, which seems to be a theme with this Rays team.
Position Battles to Monitor
I didn’t want to drag the ST section too deep, so let’s talk pitchers here. It’s *technically* a position battle for some as they have 6 starters that need to get their innings. Now, Tampa Bay has been known to think outside the box, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them just use a 6-man rotation, but they haven’t said anything for sure as of yet.
Shane McClanahan is back and is the ace of the team. He’s already been announced to be their Opening Day starter, and there’s no confusion there. Behind him, you have Taj Bradley, Ryan Pepiot, Zack Littell, Shane Baz, and Drew Rasmussen.
I particularly like Ryan Pepiot. Coming over from the Dodgers prior to last season, he got his first real opportunity as a starter and he didn’t disappoint. He made 26 starts for the Rays, pitching to a 3.60 ERA with 142 punch outs in 130 innings. He kept the WHIP down, and finished with an ERA+ of 111. Very good.
The peripheral metrics are very good, too. There’s a lot of red on the baseball savant page, and I’m a sucker for red metrics. The whiff percentage, strikeout percentage, hard-hit rate, and extension are all heavily above average. With a bigger opportunity, maybe 160 innings pitched, we could be looking at a real breakout season.
I feel like the Rays never get quite enough credit for the bullpens they’ve put together over the years. It’s generally not a flashy group of names, but they’re always productive. You tend to see Rays’ bullpen arms flourish, and then get paid and get put on the map elsewhere.
It’s more of the same this season; Pete Fairbanks, Edwin Uceta, Garrett Cleavinger, etc. Just a bunch of really good pitchers that rarely blow games.
Player Focus
Yandy Diaz needs more credit for what he brings to a team. A very “untraditional” leadoff hitter that is probably one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball. Not many teams are trotting out their first basemen first, but again, the Rays are generally the outside-the-box thinkers.
Diaz had a bit of a down year in 2024, ultimately slashing .281/.341/.414 with 14 HRs and 65 RBI. The team as a whole had a down year, which contributed as well; but surely, Yandy is not thrilled with this performance. He went from getting MVP votes the previous two seasons to being a topic of trade discussion all offseason.
However, if you look deeper, it wasn’t a bad year at all. I think it was an unlucky year. His BABIP was the lowest it’s been since 2021, and the third lowest mark of his career. He may have just been a product of unluckiness and good defense played against him.
I mean, just take a look at this:
That doesn’t look bad to me? That’s a lot of red, and a lot of dominant metrics. I see a bounce back year coming for Diaz. The Rays have a lot of reinforcements on the way in the form of high-ceiling prospects, to go along with a healthy (for now) and very good pitching staff. Things like that definitely help the moxie of the team, which ultimately will help Yandy Diaz get back to his 2023 form.
2025 Outlook
I have no clue where to go with this team. I can see all five teams in this division finishing .500 or better, with everyone just beating up on each other just enough to keep everyone involved.
I can also see Tampa Bay and Toronto falling behind and not being competitive at all with very good teams in Baltimore, Boston, and New York. I’m going to wager a guess that the Rays finish right around .500, but with a very positive outlook for their future.
An added year of experience for guys like Junior Caminero, Carson Williams, Ryan Pepiot, Xavier Isaac, Tre Morgan, etc. will set this team up for future success. I just think we’re still a year or two from really seeing the benefits of that.