Inside The Rays

The MLB Draft is tomorrow, and it is maybe the most exciting part of an MLB season, especially when you are the best team in the American League. We highlighted the top three consensus names and broke down some advanced data from their 2026 seasons. Roch Cholowsky is a premium defender at shortstop who, in 61 games, hit 21 home runs with 36 walks to 36 strikeouts while slashing .320/.452/.636 with...

The Rays were able to split the series against the Yankees with strong pitching performances from Shane McClanahan, Ian Seymour, and Griffin Jax. For McClanahan, it was a season-high in innings and the most emotional he has been on a mound this season. His Changeup had a 60% whiff%, and he held an Avg EV of just 73.4 MPH. He is now tied for second in Rays history for most starts with six or more i...

Junior Caminero and Drew Rasmussen capture the AL Player and Pitcher of the Month; the Rays have won 8 straight games and are now 4 games up in the AL East. Junior Caminero had one of the best stretches we have ever seen in Rays history: 9 HR in his last 8 games exiting game 2, and is now the youngest player since 1900 to have a 6-game HR streak, passing Griffey. He's trending to be the 6th pl...

Junior Caminero put on one of the best offensive displays in Rays franchise history over the last week, and with no surprise, took home AL Player of the Week. He joins Bryce Harper, Willie Horton, and Boog Powell as the only players under 23 to hit 7 or more home runs in a 6-game span, and since the start of May, his 1.002 OPS ranks ahead of Nick Kurtz (.996) and Shohei Ohtani (.983) for best in b...

The Rays split the Royals series after dropping the first 2 games. Junior Caminero had 3 HRs, and the Rays pitching staff carried a no hitter into the 9th inning. Ian Seymour had arguably the best game of his career, and Casey Legumina got the first 4 outs of the game. The trio continues to be one of the best in. the sport, as Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda were hitting the ball all over the field...

The Rays have been unable to escape the 1-run loss curse, dropping five straight games by a single run. It was great to see Jonny DeLuca deliver two absolute bombs in his first couple of games back, and Drew Rasmussen and Nick Martinez each delivered gritty outings in back-to-back starts. We also touched on Theo Gillen's recent promotion and how he's the only prospect in the minors with 12...

The Rays were swept by the Dodgers, but all three games were one-run losses and winnable. The pitching also looked excellent: Drew Rasmussen dominated, posting a 0.43 ERA, 1.75 xERA, and 1.24 FIP in June. He's posted an absurd 38.9% K-BB%, the best mark in baseball, and has held opponents to a .129 batting average. His 29 strikeouts and 1.1 fWAR lead all pitchers this month. Other than Ohtani,...

The Rays had a tough start to the west coast road trip, but they salvaged the Angels series with an 8-3 win on Sunday. The offense has been struggling lately, so it was good to see them have a strong game to end the series. We talked about the pitching performances from Griffin Jax, Shane McClanahan, and the bullpen. Next series is the Dodgers on the road, that should be an interesting one.

After a rough week-and-a-half stretch, the Tampa Bay Rays took care of the Boston Red Sox, sweeping them, and they now have a sweep against every team in the AL East. Yandy Díaz continued to deliver in almost every game and extended his MLB-leading 24-game on-base streak. Drew Rasmussen became the first pitcher in franchise history to record 22 or more strikeouts, one walk or fewer, and three or f...

The Rays have been going through a little skid over the last week and a half, but prior to that they went 21-4 over a 25-game stretch. The Rays trio went absolutely insane in the month of May. Jonathan Aranda posted a .374/.464/.560 slash line with a 1.025 OPS and 183 wRC+, along with 1.2 fWAR. He led all qualified hitters in OBP and AVG and was tied with Nick Kurtz for 1st in wRC+ and OPS. Junior...

What isn't going right for the Rays right now? They are 21-4 in their last 25 games, have the most series sweeps in baseball to start the season, and aside from all the metrics we talk about, they are doing the small things right. They are playing great defense, taking extra bases on poor cut-off throws and bad defense, and they are gelling as a unit. In every post-game interview, a player men...

The Rays continue their dominant stretch of baseball, especially at home, where they are an MLB leading 16-5. The pitching continues to perform well as Shane McClanahan, Nick Martinez, Drew Rasmussen and others had productive outings. The offense has been scoring in a lot of ways, including production from Taylor Walls and Cedric Mullins, as well as the trio in Caminero, Diaz and Aranda. We previe...

The Rays are now 15-2 in their last 17 and entered yesterday’s game with the lowest team ERA and were the best at limiting hard contact. They quite literally are getting outs from every pitcher in their bullpen and starting rotation. Nick Martinez has a 1.70 ERA to begin the season, Shane McClanahan has looked great over his last 4 starts with his pitches grading exceptionally well, and Bryan Bake...

The Rays are fresh off a series sweep against the Giants, highlighted by a walk-off in game 3 from Jonathan Aranda, the 200th in club history, a strong performance from Griffin Jax to open game 2 with the bullpen following suit and capped by Aranda's 26th and 27th RBIs of the season, and Shane McClanahan's best start of the season in game 1 with home runs from Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminer...

The Rays swept the Twins and are winners of four straight games. Drew Rasmussen and Shane McClanahan delivered strong outings, and Nick Martinez tossed 8 innings, matching his career high. Junior Caminero had himself a 2-HR game against Taj Bradley with EVs over 111 MPH and distances over 435 FT. He's red hot when he goes the other way or up the middle. Jonathan Aranda also smoked 2 HR off his...

The Rays took it to the Yankees and carried that momentum into Chicago, a place they have struggled at over the last few years. In game 1, Shane McClanahan was able to deliver 5 strong innings, and Ryan Vilade delivered his biggest day at the plate as a Ray with 3 hits, including a 108 MPH EV single. Ben Williamson joined in on the party with two doubles, Nick Fortes and Yandy delivered RBIs, and...

The Rays swept the Yankees for the first time since 2021. We recapped all the notable performances, including 3 good starts from Steven Matz, Nick Martinez, Drew Rasmussen, strong production from the bullpen, and the offense doing its job in key spots. We talked about some injury updates, including Edwin Uceta, Garrett Cleavinger, Gavin Lux and Joe Boyle. We also talked about some of the young pos...

Baseball was played at Tropicana Field for the first time in 561 days and the Rays delivered with a convincing win over the Chicago Cubs. Junior Caminero, Jonathan Aranda, and Cedric Mullins all left the yard, Chandler Simpson was amped up for almost every play he was involved in, and the pen was nails after Shane McClanahan's 4 innings. We also talked about the last two games of the Twins ser...

The Rays have been playing a rough stretch of baseball to start the year. They have the worst team defense this year with -7 OAA and -7 DRS, and it has snowballed at times. The starting pitching, however, has looked great with recent strong outings from Drew Rasmussen and Joe Boyle, who is throwing less 4-Seam and tapping more into his secondaries. We also talk about the next two matchups of the T...

Shane McClanahan, for the first time in 973 days, made a start in a major league baseball game and looked very promising in terms of his secondaries. Nick Martinez made his Rays debut and was throwing tons of strikes and mixing his pitches effectively in the zone. In game 1, Jonny DeLuca hit his farthest HR at the MLB level after we talked about him on the last podcast, and Nick Fortes delivered a...

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...

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 stri...

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 R...

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.