3 storylines to monitor as Rays' camp dawns
Adam Berry
@adamdberryThis story was excerpted from Adam Berry's Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Every Spring Training tends to take on a life of its own, with unforeseen storylines and unexpected breakthroughs. You might not learn everything you need to know about a team during morning workouts and early afternoon games where the final scores are quickly forgotten, but spring still can shape the course of the season.
Before pitchers and catchers hold their first workout on Wednesday, let¡¯s run through three storylines to follow in Rays camp:
1. How much can the lineup improve?
The Rays are coming off the worst offensive season in franchise history, a disappointing year at the plate in which they outscored only the 121-loss White Sox. Improvement seems inevitable. The extent of that improvement likely will determine their level of success in 2025.
They¡¯ve tweaked the cast of characters a bit by bringing in catcher Danny Jansen and Ha-Seong Kim, who is expected to take over at shortstop when he¡¯s finished recovering from right shoulder surgery. But most of their improvement will have to come from familiar faces.
They¡¯ll give more runway to younger players such as center fielder Jonny DeLuca, outfielder/infielder Richie Palacios and DH/infielder Jonathan Aranda. They¡¯ll count on another step toward stardom from power-hitting third baseman Junior Caminero. But much of their success will be dependent upon good health and consistent performance from the likes of Yandy D¨ªaz, Brandon Lowe, Josh Lowe and Christopher Morel.
The Rays also began talking at the end of last season about increasing the focus and intensity of their situational-hitting work in Spring Training after a historically poor showing with runners in scoring position last year -- a collective .212 batting average.
2. Sorting out their pitching plan
A little more run support could go a long way, because the Rays expect to have another strong pitching staff.
Returning ace Shane McClanahan will lead a rotation that could also include the recently extended Drew Rasmussen, right-hander Zack Littell and hard-throwing right-handers Ryan Pepiot, Shane Baz and Taj Bradley. Tampa Bay won¡¯t roll out a six-man rotation, though, so it¡¯s still unclear how the rotation will line up if all six pitchers are healthy and ready to go at the end of March. Could one move to the bullpen, go to the Minors or get dealt? That sounds like a problem the Rays would welcome, given how often they¡¯ve dealt with the alternative.
The Rays need only to look back two years to see how quickly a loaded five-man rotation with depth behind it can give way to plucking Littell off the waiver wire and moving him from the bullpen to the rotation out of necessity to make key starts down the stretch.
The Rays also have a number of bullpen options, having recently added another experienced arm in Alex Faedo. How they set up their rotation could impact the bullpen, and they have plenty of talented relievers to consider -- likely more than they have room for on the Opening Day roster.
3. Not one, not two, but three stadium situations
First and most obviously, there will be a lot of questions about the Rays playing their regular-season home games this year at a different Spring Training ballpark: Steinbrenner Field. It will come up early on, as players filter into camp. It will come up when they play the Yankees in Tampa. It will come up as a unique Opening Day approaches.
How will the ballpark play for hitters and pitchers? What kind of atmosphere will it create? How different will it be for players, staff and fans? Will it be weird moving into the Yankees¡¯ ballpark? How will the Rays handle the heat and the rain? What about all the home games early on and the extended road trips during the summer? It¡¯s an inescapably important topic.
But there will also be a considerable amount of focus on Tropicana Field -- where the Rays say they would like to be to begin the 2026 season -- and the city of St. Petersburg¡¯s efforts to repair it.
The Rays¡¯ long-term future is looming over everything, as the team faces a March 31 deadline to decide whether they will move forward with their planned $1.3 billion stadium as part of the Historic Gas Plant District development project in St. Petersburg.