Rays Claim Jason Coats, Designate Dylan Floro

The Rays have claimed outfielder Jason Coats off waivers from the White Sox. In a corresponding move, the team designated righty Dylan Floro for assignment.

Coats, 27 next month, was designated for assignment by the White Sox recently when they claimed fellow outfielder Willy Garcia off waivers from the Pirates. A former 29th-round selection by Chicago, Coats made his Major League debut with the ChiSox in 2016, batting .200/.298/.340 in a tiny sample of 58 plate appearances. Coats has spent more time in right field than any other outfield spot (by a wide margin) in his minor league career, but he does have 350 innings of work or more at all three positions. He’s also coming off a monster year in Triple-A Charlotte, where he batted .330/.394/.519 with 10 homers, 22 doubles and a pair of triples in just 332 plate appearances.

Floro recently turned 26 and, like Coats, made his big league debut in 2016. He picked up 15 innings out of the Tampa Bay bullpen and allowed seven earned runs (4.20 ERA) with 14 strikeouts against four unintentional walks to go along with a 54.7 percent ground-ball rate. Floro averaged a respectable 92.5 mph on his fastball and enjoyed a successful season at the Triple-A level, logging 50 innings with a 2.88 ERA, 7.2 K/9, 1.6 BB/9 and a 56.5 percent ground-ball rate. Given his excellent control (career 1.3 BB/9 in the minors) and strong ground-ball tendencies, it seems as though he could be a candidate to be claimed if the Rays ultimately expose him to outright waivers.