As the weather heats up, so have the Tampa Bay Rays, who have won their last three series. Tampa Bay has gone a combined 7-2 against Houston, Toronto, and Minnesota.
What is more impressive is the way that the Rays have won the seven games on their homestand. The starting pitching was outstanding, the defense was top notch, and the Rays offensive firepower was on display.
This is what we expected from this Rays team from the start of the season, but it seems they are just now starting to feel comfortable and take advantage of the home field that Steinbrenner Field creates.
The Rays are in second place in the American League East with a 28-27 record, six games behind the New York Yankees. The Rays are now 18-19 at home and 10-8 on the road as they hit the road for a nine game road trip.
Brandon Lowe, who leads the Rays with 11 home runs, seems to have found his groove. Junior Caminero has found his home run swing as he now has 10 homers on the season and is finally starting to hit the way the Rays front office envisioned after breaking camp with the 40 man roster.
Jonathan Aranda has been a pleasant surprise. We all thought that Aranda would hit, but his .315 batting average, his seven home runs and 30 runs batted in have been one of the highlights this season.
Chandler Simpson has played as advertised. Every at bat he puts pressure on the opposing defense, and is one of the fastest players in the Majors. Simpson is hitting .286 with 11 runs batted in. He has 16 stolen bases and has been caught just three times. He is tied for sixth in the league in stolen bases. Simpson is already getting his name in the record books. Through his first 31 games of his career, Simpson has 32 hits, 14 stolen bases, and zero errors. This is the best start in those three categories in MLB history.
We are now past Memorial Day and this is the time of year where the contenders start to separate themselves from the pretenders, and the Rays are slowly moving into the contender category. Everyone expected the Rays to be better than .500 at home at this point in the season, but the last month, the Rays have been trending in the right direction.
The starting rotation has been outstanding on this hometand. Overall, the Rays rotation has been just average with an ERA of 3.65, good for eighth in the American League. The Rays are still waiting on two-time All-Star Shane McClanahan to make his debut this season. And that should strengthen the rotation even more.
Drew Rasmussen has been the Rays most consistent pitcher, and also the best pitcher to this point in the season. Rasmussen is 4-4 with a 2.33 ERA and 48 strikeouts. Shane Baz has been the biggest disappointment in the rotation to this point in the season. Baz is 4-4 with a 4.84 ERA on the season.
Overall, the rotation is starting to live up to expectations. The last two turns through the rotation, the starters have gone 5-2 and have averaged six innings in the last nine games.
In the Rays 13-0 win against Toronto, Ryan Pepiot had his best outing of the season, throwing seven shutout innings with five strikeouts.
The bullpen has pitched well overall. A solid B+ is a worthy grade for this unit. Outside of Edwin Uceta and Mason Montgomery, the Rays pen has been outstanding. Uceta and Montgomery have both struggled trying to live up to the expectations of last season. Uceta has a 5.18 ERA with 10 walks and 18 strikeouts. Montgomery has a 5.23 ERA with 10 walks and 23 strikeouts while giving up five home runs. Kevin Kelly is still out for the Rays and will be starting a rehab assignment soon. He will no doubt take the place of Cole Sulser or Conner Seabold on the roster. Surely, they will be a bit more patient with Uceta and Montgomery.
The Rays have finally addressed the catching situation by acquiring Matt Theiss from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for minor league outfielder Dru Baker. Rortvedt was hitting .095 with six runs batted in in 63 at bats. Three of those RBI’s came in the 13-0 thrashing of the Toronto Blue Jays just days ago. Theiss hit .212 with one homer and eight runs driven in for the White sox. Rortvedt will be DFA’d once Theiss joins the Rays.
Shortstop Ha Seong Kim and outfielder Johnny DeLuca started rehab assignments this week. Deluca is expected to be ready to join the big league club in a few weeks, while it could be a bit longer for Kim.
The Rays have signed pitcher Kyle Gibson to a minor league contract. Although Gibson has been terrible this year with a 16.78 ERA, the Rays were willing to take a flyer on the MLB veteran. Gibson has 1,878 innings pitched on his resume with a 4.60 ERA. Gibson was 8-8 with a 4.60 ERA with 151 strikeouts last season with St. Louis.