March 20: Walls tells Topkin that he’s been told he’ll be sidelined for a “minimum” of three to four weeks.
March 19: Rays infielder Taylor Walls has a right oblique issue and will begin the season on the 10-day injured list, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. That will likely lead to Carson Williams being the Opening Day shortstop, though Topkin notes the Rays are open to external additions as well.
The Rays came into camp with Walls and Williams as their top candidates for the Opening Day shortstop job. Walls is the more experienced of the two, having appeared in 480 games for the Rays over the past five seasons. He doesn’t provide anything with the bat, having hit .195/.286/.298 in his career. His defensive grades are mixed, with 52 Defensive Runs Saved at short but minus-14 Outs Above Average, but the Rays clearly skew to the positive side based on how they keep committing to him. They are paying him $2.45MM this year.
Williams has a chance to produce more than that in the long run but is still unproven. He is 22 years old, turning 23 in June. He got to make a brief debut in the big leagues last year, getting into 32 games. He hit five home runs but struck out at an awful 41.5% clip while only drawing a walk in 5.7% of his plate appearances. His minor league track record has been somewhat similar, though with more walks. In 111 Triple-A games last year, his 12.4% walk rate was quite good and he hit 23 home runs but with a very high 34.1% strikeout rate.
There are some skills there but Williams is clearly still young and raw. No qualified hitter had a strikeout rate greater than 32.3% last year. He’ll need to cut down on the punchouts and is still a work in progress. Understandably, the Rays feel he could still use some more polishing in the minors, as they optioned him to Triple-A Durham earlier this week.
The Walls injury may change that plan, at least for the short term. It’s unclear exactly how long Walls will be out. If the issue is fairly minor, he might only miss a week of the season since IL stints can be backdated by three days, even at the beginning of the schedule.
Until Walls is back, the shortstop depth will feel light. Prospects Jadher Areinamo, Gregory Barrios and Brayden Taylor are not too far off but neither has played at the Triple-A level yet. Ben Williamson only played third base for the Mariners last year but he has some minor league shortstop experience. He appears to be the club’s bench infielder at the major league level and would be the backup for either Walls or Williams.
As Topkin mentioned, it’s possible the Rays look for outside help. Perhaps they could find someone they like enough to bump Williams back down to Triple-A, but adding some minor league depth behind Williams could also be a possibility. Not a lot of teams are looking to trade starting-caliber shortstops at this time of year but some fringe guys may become available in the coming days. As teams break camp and make their final roster decisions, some will trigger opt-outs and become free agents while others will hit the waiver wire.
MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently took a look at some looming opt-out situations around the league. Orlando Arcia, Paul DeJong, Kyle Farmer and Dylan Moore are some guys with recent shortstop experience on that list, though Joel Sherman of The New York Post reports that DeJong plans not to trigger his opt-out. Moore is reportedly going to trigger his. Guys like Leo Jiménez, Brett Wisely or Tsung-Che Cheng could end up on waivers in the coming days. The Rays acquired Wisely and Cheng in the offseason but later lost both in subsequent moves.
Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images
Guess Rays fans have to wait a little longer for that .200 BA
More like .150
Can’t hit, average in the field, frequently injured, but there’s a lot to like about that price tag.
yesterday rays (bizarrely and inexplicably) sent down carson & named walls OD ss
today walls is out, so carson’s back in
what a game
I do not cheer for injuries, but I am happy CW will get another shot.
Hope Walls isn’t out long, we will need a utility IF once Carson finally shows his stuff!
I hope Carson tears it up in April and forces the Rays to keep him up. That lineup gets a little more interesting if we see some of that power potential.
Isn’t Williams just another Walls? Their minor league offensive stats seem similar.
He, Carson Williams, is a much nicer person- IMO. Defensively he needs more reps, but he is trying. He has been working on his strike zone and pitch choice, hopefully he can stick around for a bit and get it together.
They aren’t similar at the plate. Walls was good in the minors but power was never his calling card. He also never had the K problem Williams has. Walls has been atrocious in the Majors at the plate, so hopefully there are no similarities at all there.
It’s hard to imagine Williams being worse at the plate than Walls, but he also may not be as good in the field. Time will tell. I’m a fan of Williams and can’t wait to see him in action.
“Prospects Jadher Areinamo, Gregory Barrios and Brayden Taylor are not too far off but neither has played at the Triple-A level yet.”
I believe instead of neither it should say “none of them”.
Nah
Well, at least we know he isn’t using AI to write his article.
Maybe this falls under the post office creed rule. Neither Areinamo nor Barrios not Taylor will stay the Rays from the swift completion of obtaining a cheap body to cover shortstop and save some cash.
What cash is being saved?
Rays should ask the Pirates about Alika Williams. Similar guy to Walls but not on the 40 man. Bucs staff seems to like him and he’s played well this spring. Former Ray prospect.
Um, the Pirates got him from the Rays. I don’t think that’s going to happen. I liked him when he was with us, quite personable.
Alike sucks. Awful draft pick and the Rays got rid of him quickly. No chance he’s returning to the Rays.
If only the Rays had signed a young future superstar shortstop to the first real longterm, high dollar contract in team history.
Oh yeah, they did but it didn’t work out, dooming the franchise for years.
Could be talking about BJ Upton, or some guy languishing in jail… Couldn’t be karma for all the expensive fool’s gold they flipped on unsuspecting rivals for young cheap & often much better talent?
Shawn – It will happen with Junior, bank on it.
I’m usually sad to hear someone getting hurt, but not in this case. Still willing to trade for a sno-cone machine. Tighten up your defense Carson and go get ’em. (another nice kid coming up through the Rays system).
Well at least he’ll have time to practice tapping his helmet
Cheng heads, our time may soon come
If Walls loses his job with the Rays that may be it for his ML starter career. He’ll still be a good defensive replacement candidate, but his hitting is too depressing to actually play on any other team.
I welcome a short stint to get Williams more big league time to help him adjust. Even if he takes, the Rays would likely still send him back to the minors when Walls is healthy. The Rays love Walls too much.
Rays also need Carson to spend about 2 months in the minors to gain an extra year of control.
He can’t hit and receives “mixed grades” for his defense. So why is Walls a major league ballplayer?