ORLANDO, Fla – The revolving door behind the plate for the Tampa Bay Rays continues to spin at a rather prodigious and staggering pace.
Since Mike Zunino was the Rays’ everyday catcher from 2019 to 2022, the quest to find an adequate replacement has been difficult and maddening.
Midway through the 2025 season, Tampa Bay officials gutted the pair of Ben Rortvedt and Danny Jansen. This duo began the season on the opening day roster and by the time the season set on Steinbrenner Field in late September, Hunter Feduccia and Nick Fortes were replacements behind the plate.
With the overall pitching staff considered by club officials to be solid and a potentially strong rotation, stability, durability, and production behind the plate becomes a priority.
While Feduccia and Fortes hit a combined .188 with five homers and 29 RBIs, their collective production, plus their collective ability to handle a major league pitching staff, came into question. Consider, Feduccia was dealt from the Dodgers, and Fortes came over from the Marlins. These numbers represent totals from both teams for each.
While each remains on the Rays’ 2026 spring roster, there could be a push.
Waiting for his curtain call is Dominic Keegan, a 25-year-old out of Methuen, Mass., and the Rays’ fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft. Power production remains a large part of the Rays’ shopping list here at the winter meetings, and catchers who can hit are extremely rare.
For that reason, Keegan will get a good look this spring at Port Charlotte.
“We are excited about (Keegan), and we put him on the roster,” said manager Kevin Cash during the winter meetings. “He battled some arm injuries in camp last spring, but there is a lot to be excited about. You talk to our player development people and Jeff Smith, our catching coordinator, who raves about Dom Keegan, the player and the person.”
Speaking with reporters about Keegan, Cash made the comparison to Jason Varitek. Cash and Varitek were teammates with the Red Sox during the 2007, 2008, and 2010 seasons. For his entire 15-year major league career, Varitek called Fenway Park home and hit .256.
“Forgot how great a player (was Varitek,) we all know how great a player,” Cash added. “(Varitek) was a great leader and he way he carried himself and presence in the clubhouse. That’s how Dom is and how he cares so much.”
For all the accolades, Keegan remains the “x” factor. That’s because of his health.
Plagued by injuries over the past several seasons, Keegan started 2025 with a visit to the injured list with elbow issues. For the season, he appeared in 69 games for AAA Durham and chipped in 10 home runs and drove in 36 runs.
That’s a significant reference from his college days at Vanderbilt. For four seasons with the Commodores, Keegan hit .345 and that immediately placed him on the Rays’ radar screen.
Selected by Tampa Bay in the fourth round and 134th overall, Keegan moved through the Rays’ organization and stops included Charlestown, Bowling Green, Montgomery, and then to AAA Durham.
On the 40-man roster to begin spring training, Cash offered the most compelling observation of Keegan, when he said, “getting him to play and perform as long as he is healthy.”
Elsewhere …
New life for Franco? Shortstop Wander Franco, last employed in the majors by the Tampa Bay Rays, was granted a new trial.
Convicted of sexually abusing a minor by a court in his native Dominican Republic, Franco was given a suspended sentence. On Dec. 9, an appeals court in the Dominican Republic ordered a new trial. The court then established a new set of judges to oversee the appeal.
No date was set for the new trial.
Franco signed an 11-year, $182 million contract with the Rays in 2021. In August, 2023, authorities in the Dominican Republic announced an investigation into Franco, then 22 years old, and an alleged relationship with an underage girl.
Immediately, the shortstop was suspended by Major League Baseball and has since been on administrative leave.
In the pipeline … The Tampa Bay Rays’ organization has developed a reputation for developing elite on-field managers, coaches, and instructors.
Just ask Matt Quatraro, manager of the Kansas City Royals.
An alumnus of the Rays’ development, Quatraro is entering his fourth season as the Royals’ skipper and traces a strong education back to central Florida. Originally drafted by Tampa Bay in 1996, he gained experience as manager, coach, catching instructor, third base coach, and bench coach through the Rays organization.
“I don’t think there is any true secret to their success,” Quatraro said at the recent winter meetings. “That starts with bringing in quality people. That’s where it all begins. They establish a culture of learning, and that leads to winning. I’m doing in Kansas City what I learned and experienced with Tampa.”