Right-hander Edwin Uceta won his arbitration hearing against the Rays, Ari Alexander of 7News reports. He’ll be paid the $1.525MM salary figure he and his agent at Nova Sports submitted rather than the $1.2MM sum submitted by the team. Players have now won the first four arbitration hearings of the 2026 season.
The 28-year-old Uceta is the latest success story for Tampa Bay’s pitch lab. The Rays were the journeyman right-hander’s fifth organization in three years when they got their hands on him in 2024. He came to the Rays organization with a career 5.80 ERA in 40 1/3 frames across parts of three seasons.
Tampa Bay near immediately unlocked something in the hard-throwing righty. Uceta exploded for 41 2/3 innings of 1.51 ERA ball with a mammoth 35.8% strikeout rate against a minuscule 5% walk rate in 2024. He followed that by tossing a team-leading 76 innings out of the ’pen in 2025. His 3.79 ERA was up from the year prior but still plenty serviceable. His rate stats trended in the wrong direction — 32.1 K%, 8.4 BB% — but were still strong marks overall, particularly the strikeout rate.
Overall, Uceta has a 2.98 ERA with terrific strikeout and walk rates in 113 2/3 innings with the Rays. His breakout has quickly thrust him into a high-leverage role. He’s saved six games and picked up 28 holds in his two years as a Ray, and with longtime closer Pete Fairbanks out the door, Uceta could find himself stepping into Tampa Bay’s ninth-inning vacancy before long. That role, coupled with this week’s arbitration win, would position him nicely for future raises moving forward.
This is Uceta’s first trip through the arbitration process. He’s a Super Two player (2.150 years of service), meaning he’s controllable through 2029 and will be arb-eligible four times instead of the standard three.
Another win for the players.
Rays going to dump him now