The Rays have hired Joe Hudson and Beau Sulser to the team’s player development ranks, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. The hirings presumably indicate that Hudson and Sulser have ended their playing careers.
Hudson began his pro career as a sixth-round pick for the Reds in the 2012 draft, and his MLB career consisted of 19 games over parts of four seasons. The catcher suited up for the Angels, Cardinals, and Mariners during the 2018-20 seasons, and after three full years in the minors, Hudson returned to the Show for a single appearance with the Mets during the 2024 campaign. Over Hudson’s 33 plate appearances, he hit .167/.219/.200 with one double and one RBI.
Beyond the four teams Hudson played with at the Major League level, he played for several other organizations in the minors, including the 2022 season spent with the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate in Durham. It is fair to assume Hudson made a good impression on Rays officials during that season, resulting in this new role now that Hudson has decided to hang up the cleats at age 34.
Sulser never played for Tampa during his 12 pro seasons, though there is a family connection by way of his older brother Cole, who is in his second stint in a Rays uniform. Beau was a 10th-round pick for the Pirates in the 2017 draft, and the right-hander spent the majority of his career with Pittsburgh over four different stints with the organization.
Sulser’s only taste of the majors came in 2022, when he tossed 22 1/3 innings across 10 appearances with the Pirates and Orioles. Sulser had a 3.63 ERA over that cup of coffee in the Show, as well as a 4.47 ERA across 485 1/3 innings in the affiliated minor leagues. The 31-year-old’s career also includes three stops overseas, as Sulser pitched in the Australian Baseball League (in 2020), the KBO League (in 2023), and the Chinese Professional Baseball League (last season).
I wonder if Sulser has a brother named Albert Kenneth Sulser.
aka Al K. Sulser