The Rays earned the top spot in MLB Pipeline¡¯s midseason farm system rankings, and Carson Williams and Brayden Taylor had a lot to do with that. Now, the Rays No. 1 and No. 3 prospects, respectively, also share a distinction: they¡¯re both members of the 20/20 club.

Williams, MLB's No. 4 overall prospect, joined the club for the second straight season on Thursday, when he launched his 20th homer to go along with 33 steals in his first season at Double-A. Taylor, MLB's No. 47 overall prospect, cracked his 20th homer on Friday in Montgomery¡¯s 6-2 loss to Pensacola at Blue Wahoos Stadium. He¡¯d already swiped 29 bases between High-A Bowling Green and Montgomery, where he joined Williams on the left side of the infield in late July.

That¡¯s the kind of power and speed package most teams would love to have one top prospect in their system possess. The Rays have two. Williams, the organization¡¯s first-round pick in 2021, is only 21. Taylor was the organization¡¯s first-round pick in 2023. He¡¯s 22.

¡°He¡¯s a really good player,¡± Taylor said of Williams. ¡°Even though he¡¯s younger than me, it¡¯s really fun to learn from him. He¡¯s been in pro ball longer than me, so it¡¯s really fun to play alongside him and learn from him."

Said Williams, of Taylor: ¡°All I can say is he¡¯s a fantastic ballplayer. He can really pick it and the swing speaks for itself. He has that sweet lefty swing.¡±

Williams and Taylor reached their milestones in different fashion. After reaching Double-A down the stretch last season as a 20-year-old, Williams opened 2024 as hot as possible. He was hitting .368 with power and speed through April, but slumped in the summer months. He¡¯s turned it on down the stretch with a productive September and will enter the regular season¡¯s final few days slashing .259/.355/.473 with 46 extra-base hits across 114 games. (The playoffs await the Biscuits as well, who won both the first and second-half Southern League South division crown.)

¡°I call this year 'The Year of the Mental,' with my peers and my teammates and coaches, because it¡¯s been a battle at times,¡± Williams said. ¡°Then you have the times that are going good. It¡¯s all about keeping it as even as possible. I¡¯m kind of learning the ropes of the mental side of baseball in that sense, and it¡¯s come a long way this season.

¡°This year¡¯s been really cool because I started off as hot as possible. I felt like I was the best hitter on the planet. Then we got to the middle part of the year and I can definitely say there were moments when I was struggling. Figuring out ways to get through those times and even to perform a little bit when you don¡¯t feel good is super important in this game. The faster you can get back to being that guy who is confident, hitting the ball well and having good at-bats -- that's why big leaguers stay in the big leagues and have amazing careers, because they¡¯re really good at that stuff.¡±

Taylor was known as a bat-first player who could do a little bit of everything offensively at Texas Christian, and he followed up a solid pro debut last year by pretty much doing that at Bowling Green to begin his first full season of pro ball. He slashed .269/.389/.513 with 14 homers and 26 steals in 84 games at High-A before a mid-season promotion, then took a little while to adjust to the high-level pitching at Double-A. But his homer Friday -- a leadoff shot -- was his sixth in 29 games with Montgomery, indicating that he¡¯s finding his footing a bit.

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With Williams and Taylor playing together at Double-A to close out the year, the next moves they make could be swift coming. As they keep developing side-by-side, it¡¯s not unreasonable to imagine those moves maybe happening in tandem.

¡°I¡¯ve definitely learned a lot, but the biggest thing for me is how to deal with a little more failure,¡± Taylor said. ¡°All these pitchers are a lot better. It¡¯s a lot of fun to compete against those kinds of guys every single night. And when you get to have some success against them, it¡¯s really fun.¡±