After buying and selling Jose Siri to the Mets earlier as we speak, the Rays have revealed that Jonny DeLuca can be their major middle fielder subsequent season (per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Instances). Siri had been Tampa Bay’s major middle fielder because the membership acquired him from the Astros forward of the commerce deadline in 2022.
DeLuca, 26, was the secondary piece the Rays acquired within the commerce that despatched Tyler Glasnow to the Dodgers final offseason; Ryan Pepiot was the centerpiece of the return. That stated, the Rays clearly considered DeLuca as greater than a mere throw-in. A damaged hand stored him from making the Opening Day roster this previous season, however after his return in early Might, he appeared in 107 of Tampa Bay’s remaining 130 video games. His bat was feeble, producing a .609 OPS and 77 wRC+, however he stole 16 bases and performed sturdy protection whereas splitting his time between all three outfield positions. He earned 5 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), 8 Outs Above Common (OAA), and 5.1 Deserved Runs Prevented (DRP), serving to him rack up constructive worth in line with each model of Wins Above Alternative. He already has elite pace and a powerful throwing arm, so if he can be taught to faucet right into a bit extra of the plus energy and plate self-discipline he displayed all through the minor leagues, it is perhaps sufficient for him to turn into a productive massive league middle fielder.
Now, that’s a giant if, however the Rays appear to have an excellent quantity of religion in DeLuca. President of baseball operations Erik Neander cited the younger outfielder’s enchancment over the previous few months of the 2024 season, telling Topkin, “You take a look at the progress, you take a look at the advance, you look how he’s made up, and his historical past of simply what he’s been capable of do with extra reps given what an excellent athlete he’s, he’s simply continued to get higher.”
It’s true that DeLuca hit considerably higher within the second half of the 2024 season than the primary. However a lot of that enchancment got here from a powerful September (116 wRC+) wherein the righty batter outperformed his .269 xwOBA by greater than 50 factors. That’s not rather a lot to go on, particularly for a staff that goals to contend as soon as once more in 2025. Most golf equipment will surely be searching for an improve on the free agent market. However after all, that is the Rays we’re speaking about, a staff that loves to show unheralded commerce pickups into productive main leaguers.
Topkin notes that lefty batters Josh Lowe and Richie Palacios may additionally see a while in middle area subsequent 12 months. Neither one has a lot massive league expertise on the place, however each are younger and athletic outfielders who performed a great deal of middle within the minors. Extra to the purpose, if both of them finally ends up taking part in middle, it’ll solely be as a result of supervisor Kevin Money is trying to get extra offense within the lineup, particularly in opposition to a troublesome right-handed pitcher. Each gamers have been roughly league-average on the plate in 2024, however they have been considerably extra harmful in 2023. Even when neither returns to the heights of his 2023 marketing campaign, a league-average bat would nonetheless be an entire lot extra productive than DeLuca was this previous season.
Nevertheless, any time Lowe or Palacios spends in middle area would take them away from the outfielder corners. That might most probably depart both Dylan Carlson or Christopher Morel protecting a nook spot. The one different outfielders on Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster are Kameron Misner, who appeared in eight video games for the massive league membership this previous season, and Jake Mangum, who was not too long ago added to the 40-man to guard him from the Rule 5 draft. Neither is essentially something greater than depth for the bench. Thus, even when the Rays are planning to offer DeLuca the majority of the taking part in time in middle area, it could make sense for them so as to add a minimum of yet one more outfielder this offseason.
