The Rays announced that right-hander Nathan Wiles has been traded to the Braves for cash considerations. The righty was not on Tampa’s 40-man roster and won’t need to take up a spot on Atlanta’s roster for now.
Wiles, 26, was an eighth-round pick of the Rays in 2019. Since then, he has pitched both out of the rotation and the bullpen in the minor leagues. Overall, he has thrown 325 1/3 innings across multiple levels, allowing 4.98 earned runs per nine. His 20.5% strikeout rate is on the low side but he’s shown strong control with a 5% walk rate.
He’s never been a top prospect but he got an honorable mention on the FanGraphs list of Rays prospects from Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice in July. “Wiles commands his 90-94 mph fastball well and his 84-88 mph cutter stays off barrels with its late bite,” the FanGraphs reports says. “He throws his changeup to both left- and right-handed hitters and his best ones show significant depth.”
His numbers in the Grapefruit League look quite nice, with obvious small sample caveats. In 6 1/3 innings, he has 11 strikeouts compared to just two walks. 10 hits have led to five earned runs and a 7.11 ERA, but his .556 batting average on balls in play and 58.3% strand rate are both heavily to the unlucky side.
Perhaps Atlanta has seen something they liked from Wiles this spring and sent some cash to the Rays in order to bring him aboard. He’ll provide the club with some non-roster depth for its pitching staff.
Photo courtesy Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images
Cash is just as good as money, a wise man once said.
That sounds like Yogi. Berra mutterings.
Why not crypto currency?
It gets late early out there.
He’s not a prototypical Braves prospect. He doesn’t walk enough batters.
Can’t find any significant arm injury history on him. So not the prototypical Rays prospect either?
Not very often the Rays get fleeced so hmmmm….
Yes, and why would they jettison someone who isn’t on the 40-man roster? I doubt the Rays got so much cash that Wiles was literally pried out of their hands. Then again, what the Rays think is a pile of cash is a lot smaller than what most other teams consider to be a pile.
Rays are gonna Ray, they have missed at times. Gotta believe in your GM!
@Mercenary
Maybe the Rays needed money to afford the AirBnB they’re going to have to play games in.
AA, Did you use this money Wilesly? Is this the money the Angels sent for Perdomo? Another head scratcher.
Perdomo was going to take a roster spot. Wiles goes to Gwinnett.
Pretty sure this is just to fill our Gwinnett’s roster. Beats holding tryouts!
Somebody’s gotta start games in Gwinnett
Good trade. Braves bought a probabilistic mismatch, leveraging their environment to turn a “nobody” into a weapon, all while the public fixates on his ERA.