ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Now that the Tampa Bay Rays, the city of St. Petersburg, and Pinellas County are joining efforts to address the future of Tropicana Field, sands are drifting through the hourglass toward spring training.
Approaching mid-November, there are just over four months until pitchers and catchers report to the Rays’ spring facility at Port Charlotte.
Speaking of catchers, this is a significant need for the 2025 season.
Not only did the Rays receive limited offense from the catching position, but the defense was also suspect. Opposing runners used the combination of pitchers’’ weakness to hold runners on and Rays’ catchers’ inability to throw runners out. Alex Jackson, who was designated for assignment on Sept. 5 and released on Oct. 2, threw out only 17 percent of runners. At the same time, Ben Rortvedt tossed out runners only a 15 percent range.
All of which was no secret that Erik Neander, the Rays’ director of baseball operation, told the media in early October, “we need to find a way to get more output from the position than we received. That’s just the bottom line”
The key barometer, Neander pointed out, is simply more offense. Rortvedt, a left-handed hitter, gave the Rays a .228 season in 112 games and Rene Pinto, who started the season behind the plate, hit only .214 in 49 games. Pinto was released in early May.
For strengthening this glaring need at catcher, one option could be Carson Kelly, a 30-year-old free agent. Kelly has nine years in the majors with St. Louis, Arizona, Detroit and Texas. In that period, the native of Chicago hit .224 with 54 career home runs and knocked in 207 runs. His greatest offensive season was 2019 with the Diamondbacks. That’s when he hit a career-best 18 homers in 111 games.
Defensively, Kelly would bring improvement, especially in his ability to cut down runners on the bases. In 2024 combined with the Tigers and Rangers, he tossed runners out at 31 percent clip and represents a clear improvement over the 2024 trio of Pinto-Jackson and Rortvedt. Kelly was released by the Rangers right after the 20024 season, and now a free agent.
Should the Rays bring in Kelly, he could mentor Dominic Keegan, the Rays’ potential catcher of the future.
Keegan, who will be 25 during the season on Aug. 1, hit. .285 for AA Montgomery in 2024, banged out nine homers and drove in 60 runs, Neander said Keegan will likely start the 2025 season at AAA Durham. At the same time, Kelly could guide the native of Methuen, Mass. as he did with Gabriel Moreno before the Diamondbacks’ 2023 surge to the top of the National League.
“When many players come up through the system and they get that call to the big leagues, okay, it’s now we’ve made our dream,” Kelly said in the Tigers clubhouse during 2024 spring training. “How do we fit in? Does my skill set play? Does it translate? One thing about Moreno, nothing changed, He was not fazed by the moment, and he wasn’t star-struck. He came in, did his job, and took care of business.”
As with the case in Moreno’s situation, Kelly could be in a similar position to ease Keegan’s transition to the majors.
“Once a player realizes they can play at the big-league level, then they can take off,” Kelly added. “I think that’s what (Moreno) did and it’s fun to watch.”
Recognizing Keegan’s talent, Neander said the Rays are not in a hurry to rush him to the majors. In this case, patience may be a virtue and the Rays’ ability to withstand another period of inactivity from the catcher’s position may be taxing.
At the end of the season, the Rays did recall Logan Driscoll, another left-handed hitting catcher. For his limited time at the major league level, Driscoll hit .171 in 15 games and remains on the 40-man roster.
Save Kelly, other catchers directly on the Rays’ radar screen could include Gary Sánchez, Elias Díaz, Jacob Stallings and James McCann
When considering numbers, the catching status becomes exacerbated. For the 2024 season, Rays catchers hit a combined .194. At this point, Neander and other decision-makers hope to see more than just a beacon light at the end of the Rays’ catching tunnel.