This 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.
TAMPA -- What Jonathan Aranda has done to start the season is impressive.
After going 2-for-3 with a walk and his third homer of the season in the Rays’ 7-4 loss to the Red Sox on Tuesday, Aranda is hitting .413/.481/.761 in 15 games. That’s good for a 1.242 OPS, best in the Majors among all qualified hitters -- above even reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge (second, at 1.224).
Aranda’s seven doubles are tied for the AL lead, and his 10 extra-base hits are tied for second in the AL (with Judge, Tyler Soderstrom and Spencer Torkleson) behind Alex Bregman, who went 5-for-5 with two homers and a double on Tuesday night.
“He's having big at-bats. He's hitting the ball hard,” manager Kevin Cash said Tuesday night. “At the end of the day, I think that's what [hitting coaches Chad Mottola] and Brady [North] are striving for -- just good, hard contact -- and Jonny's doing it really well right now.”
But what Aranda has done to start the season is not surprising.
“It's what you were waiting for,” second baseman Brandon Lowe said. “I feel like everyone saw what he was doing in Triple-A, everyone saw what he was doing in Spring Training and all this other stuff. And you're just like, 'All right, man. It's going to happen. He's going to figure it out.’”
Indeed, this is what the Rays have expected out of Aranda -- and what the 26-year-old has expected of himself. The left-handed slugger has hit everywhere he’s been … except the Majors. Over parts of the past three seasons, he hit just .222/.309/.382 in 333 plate appearances.
His playing time with the Rays came in fits and starts, but his production never matched the video-game numbers he put up in Triple-A -- a .316/.413/.546 slash line with 50 homers, 50 doubles and 185 RBIs in 231 games from 2022-24. Now, he’s getting regular work (at least against right-handed pitchers) as the Rays’ first baseman, and he’s making the most of it.
“It's been more of the chances that I've been given and the opportunities,” Aranda said through interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. “I've been putting in the work for the past [few] years, and now just having the opportunity, it's great and it's showing.”
Aranda’s breakout might have come last year, if not for a fractured finger that landed him on the injured list and an oblique injury that further stalled his progress. But he showed some promise in September, when he hit .253/.329/.507 with five homers and 10 RBIs in 24 games, and manager Kevin Cash was particularly encouraged by the more aggressive approach he displayed.
Wanting to address what he acknowledged was likely his weakness, Aranda spent all winter working on his defense while playing winter ball for Yaquis de Obregon in his native Mexico. But he said what he’s doing at the plate started last September, as he’s carried his focus and on-the-attack mentality at the plate into this year.
“He's a really good hitter, and he's been that way,” Cash said. “I think having confidence has allowed how talented he is to come out a little bit more.”
Aranda had one of his best games in a Rays uniform on Saturday, going 3-for-3 with a 379-foot home run, three RBIs and two walks, and followed that up with a key pinch-hit RBI single on Sunday. Both Saturday’s homer (108.7 mph) and Sunday’s single (111.4 mph) were smoked, in line with what he’s done throughout his first 13 games.
Aranda’s Baseball Savant page is glowing red, representing a hitter who began the week in the 94th percentile or better in average exit velocity, barrel rate, hard-hit rate and several “expected” metrics (xwOBA, expected average, expected slugging percentage) that indicate what he’s doing is for real.
“We saw it all in Triple-A, too. Like, as soon as he gets comfortable and gets his ABs, he goes on a run, and it's amazing to see,” starter Taj Bradley said recently. “When he sees enough pitches, like, you can't get him out, you can't strike him out, so you better just more than likely just let him hit the ball and hopefully get himself out.”
That hasn’t happened much lately. This is what Aranda has done, always does and expects to keep doing. He hits.
“He's turned out to be exactly who we thought he was going to be, right? And it's just so great,” starter Drew Rasmussen said recently. “He's a great person, first and foremost, but then on top of it, the talent is off the charts. So to see what he's done here in the early going is pretty cool.”