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Rays Designate Austin Shenton For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | November 18, 2024 at 5:20pm CDT

The Rays have added left-handers Joe Rock and Ian Seymour to their 40-man roster, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (X links), protecting them from being selected in the upcoming Rule 5 draft.  Tomorrow at 5pm Central is the deadline for players eligible for that draft to be protected by being selected to a club’s roster. The Rays had one 40-man vacancy and opened another by designating infielder Austin Shenton for assignment. The club also avoided arbitration with right-hander Cole Sulser by signing him to a deal for 2025, though the terms of his deal haven’t yet been publicly reported.

Rock, 24, was a competitive balance round pick of the Rockies in 2021 but came to the Rays as part of the March 2024 trade that sent infielder/outfielder Greg Jones to Colorado. Rock’s first season in his new organization went fairly well, as he tossed 139 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.58 earned run average, 21.6% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate and 45.3% ground ball rate.

Seymour, 26 next month, was a second-round pick of the Rays in 2020 with generally strong results since then. He has a 2.50 ERA in 259 1/3 innings over the past four years, pairing a 31% strikeout rate with an 8.6% walk rate. That includes 145 1/3 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A in 2024, with Seymour posting a 2.35 ERA this year while striking out 28.1% of opponents and only giving out free passes at a 7.1% clip.

Given the strong results from both pitchers, the Rays decided they didn’t want any rival clubs plucking them away, so both southpaws get roster spots today. While that’s surely exciting for both of them, the flip side is that it’s bad news for Shenton.

Turning 27 in January, Shenton was drafted by the Mariners in 2019 but came to the Rays in the July 2021 trade that sent Diego Castillo the other way. In the upper minors and the majors, Shenton has generally shown a “three true outcomes” approach. He has taken 1,168 plate appearances in the minors over the past three years with 57 home runs, a 14.6% walk rate and a 28.6% strikeout rate. All that has led to a .276/.387/.522 line and 135 wRC+. In a small sample of 50 big league plate appearances, he has a 16% walk rate, 28% strikeout rate, .214/.340/.405 line and 120 wRC+.

There are some intriguing numbers in there but Shenton also has some flags. For one, health has been an issue, with 2023 being the only year of his career in which he played more than 102 games. His defense is also not a standout tool. While he can play both infield corners, his work at third isn’t well regarded. If he’s more of a first base only guy in the long term, that will put more pressure on his bat. While he has often been able to perform offensively, it will be challenging to keep it up in the majors with his strikeout tendencies.

Those flags have nudged him off the Rays’ roster but his positive qualities could get him a chance somewhere else. He still has a couple of option seasons and just a few days of service time, meaning he could be a cheap depth option for some other club willing to give him a roster spot, either via a trade or a waiver claim. DFA limbo can last a week but the waiver process lasts 48 hours, meaning the Rays will have five days to explore trades.

As mentioned, all clubs will be adding players to their rosters between now and tomorrow evening for Rule 5 protection, so perhaps roster spots will be at a premium and make it harder for one of the 29 other teams to take a shot on Shenton.

As for Sulser, 35 in March, he was acquired from the Mets in a July cash deal. He went on to toss 11 2/3 scoreless innings for the Rays after that deal despite subpar strikeout and walk rates of 18.6% and 14% respectively. He now has 149 career innings with a 3.74 ERA, 25.3% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a $1MM salary next year, not much above the $760K league minimum. It’s unclear how much he will make in 2025 but more information will likely be forthcoming as the offseason progresses.

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Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Austin Shenton Cole Sulser Ian Seymour Joe Rock

Mariners Re-Sign Casey Lawrence To Minor League Deal
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Brewers, Deivi García Agree To Minor League Deal
View Comments (14)
Post a Comment

14 Comments

  1. Yankee Clipper

    11 months ago

    Making room for Soto?

    1
    Reply
    • Acoss1331

      11 months ago

      Watch out Clip! Heyman did say earlier in the offseason that the Rays had touched base with Soto/Boras. Soto might just end up with Rays lol

      2
      Reply
  2. Bart Harley Jarvis

    11 months ago

    Coolest MiLB name ever — Joe Rock!

    2
    Reply
  3. Dorothy_Mantooth

    11 months ago

    Protecting Seymour makes a lot of sense but I don’t know why they protected Joe Rock. He really hasn’t done anything to make him a potential target in the Rule V draft. I’m guessing they have a lot more moves to make before opening day and wouldn’t be surprised if Rock doesn’t stick on their 40 man roster when it’s all said and done.

    1
    Reply
    • Seamaholic

      11 months ago

      Yeah this is a “we have the extra spot might as well use it” move, for now. If they find a bargain on the FA market (and they always do) he’ll probably be DFA.

      Reply
      • Michael Chaney

        11 months ago

        I don’t think there’s a such thing as adding a guy just because you have a free roster spot. I’m sure if they planned on DFAing him immediately after signing someone, they wouldn’t have added him to the roster to begin with.

        If they were to DFA him and someone claimed him, they’d lose him for good. If they really weren’t sure about keeping him, they’d take their chances with a team taking him in the Rule 5 Draft and being forced to keep him up all year.

        2
        Reply
    • Michael Chaney

      11 months ago

      Rock isn’t someone you can judge just from minor league stats. He’s big and physical, he’s a lefty, his stuff is pretty good and he’s been unhittable at times.

      I think he’ll probably end up as a reliever but they aren’t just wasting a roster spot on him. I’m admittedly an Ohio Bobcat who’s biased because he was there at the same time as me, but if he moved to the bullpen full time I think he could be electric.

      4
      Reply
    • mostlytoasty

      11 months ago

      to add to Chaney, Joe Rock was also one of the youngest SPs at AAA this year and his under-the-hood metrics were a bit better than his surface level stats suggest

      given the amount of IPs he logged + his age, he would have been a no-brainer Rule 5 pick for several lower-tier teams that need some back-of-rotation innings eaters on the cheap. Mitch Spence is a great recent example. He wasn’t exactly great at AAA in ’23, but he logged a lot of IPs and was relatively young (25), and he went ahead and logged 151+ IPs for the A’s this year. A 4.58 ERA isn’t *awful* for a guy that only cost them like $750k and didn’t even come from their own farm.

      Reply
  4. آلي مكبيل_.._.بيتزا بيبيروني آشتون كوتشر

    11 months ago

    I can see the Pirates or A’s taking a flier on this guy.

    Reply
  5. Bookbook

    11 months ago

    I’d like to see the Mariners take him back. I guess I’m just being sentimental, but the M’s have played worse…

    2
    Reply
  6. BPG86

    11 months ago

    Past and future Mariner.

    Reply
  7. CleaverGreene

    11 months ago

    Shenton-The only 27 yo pro baseball player I have ever seen with a 47 yo ‘dad body’.

    1
    Reply
  8. bus035

    11 months ago

    100% Mariners will claim him to try and get him back.

    Reply
    • FloridaSportsGuy

      11 months ago

      You were right!

      1
      Reply

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