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Logan Driscoll

Rays Likely To Explore Catching Market

By Anthony Franco | October 4, 2024 at 11:02pm CDT

The Rays dropped to fourth place in the AL East, finishing the season at 80-82. After missing the postseason for the first time since 2018, Tampa Bay baseball operations president Erik Neander spoke Friday about the need for more offense. He specifically pointed to catcher as an area where the club must improve.

“We’ve got to find a way to get more output out of that position than what we got this year,” Neander said (link via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). “We’ve got to find a way to be better back there, without question, and that’ll be a priority in terms of where our mental energy goes throughout this winter.”

While that’s not quite a definitive declaration the Rays will add from outside the organization, it’s clear they’ll examine the market. Tampa Bay had one of the lightest-hitting catching groups in the majors. The Rays got a .194/.272/.291 batting line out of the position. Only the White Sox had a lower batting average. Tampa Bay was 24th in on-base percentage and 28th (better than just the White Sox and Marlins) in slugging.

The Rays opened the season with René Pinto as their starter. That didn’t last long. Tampa Bay optioned Pinto after 19 games. He spent most of the year in Triple-A, where he hit .191 with a .257 on-base mark. Ben Rortvedt, whom the Rays acquired from the Yankees on the eve of Opening Day, ended up taking the majority of the playing time. The lefty hitter turned in a middling .228/.317/.303 slash over 328 plate appearances. Tampa Bay had Alex Jackson backing Rortvedt up from early May until designating him for assignment in September. Jackson hit .122 in a career-high 58 games. September call-up Logan Driscoll also struggled in his limited MLB work.

Like most clubs, the Rays have generally prioritized defense at the position. Rortvedt graded reasonably well as a receiver. Statcast credited him with better than average framing and blocking metrics. He also showed strong pop times, although his 16.2% caught stealing rate was subpar. Rortvedt presumably showed enough to hold an offseason roster spot. He’s out of minor league options, so the Rays would need to keep him in the majors or make him available to other teams to open the season. Driscoll still has a full slate of options and seems likely to start next season in the minors.

Jackson already elected minor league free agency after clearing waivers last month. Pinto remains on the 40-man roster but may have a tenuous hold on that spot. He’ll be out of options next season. It’s unlikely the team runs things back with a tandem of Rortvedt and Pinto; the latter might find himself on waivers at some point this winter.

The free agent catching class is light at the top. That’s not a huge issue for the Rays, who probably wouldn’t have made a huge splash even if the market were stronger. There are a handful of right-handed hitting backstops who should be available on one- or two-year deals. Kyle Higashioka, Carson Kelly, Danny Jansen, Jacob Stallings (whose deal with Colorado contains a mutual option) and Elias Díaz are among the top options. Anyone from that group could be a realistic target to share time with the lefty-hitting Rortvedt. Each should at least provide more offense than Jackson managed in that role.

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Tampa Bay Rays Ben Rortvedt Logan Driscoll Rene Pinto

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Rays To Select Logan Driscoll, Activate Zack Littell

By Nick Deeds | September 1, 2024 at 7:59am CDT

The Rays are set to select the contract of catcher Logan Driscoll and activate right-hander Zack Littell from the 15-day IL today, according to a report from Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The additions of Driscoll and Littell to the active rosters will not require corresponding moves due to roster sizes expanding from 26 to 28 today. Driscoll’s contract selection also won’t need a corresponding 40-man move after the club designated righty Erasmo Ramirez for assignment yesterday.

Driscoll, 26, was a second-round pick by the Padres back in 2019 but was swapped to the Rays alongside outfielder Manuel Margot in exchange for right-hander Emilio Pagan during the 2019-20 offseason. Since then, Driscoll has established himself as a solid bat-first catching prospect for the club while also getting occasional reps at first base and in right field. The lefty hitter has slashed a strong .292/.367/.473 in 294 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level this year and figures to get the opportunity to work his way into the mix behind the plate alongside the current tandem of Ben Rortvedt and Alex Jackson.

Rortvedt has largely held his own in 92 games with the Rays this year, slashing .242/.333/.329 with a roughly league average wRC+ of 98 to go along with solid work behind the plate defensively. 2024 has been a struggle for Jackson, however, as the former first-round pick has hit just .122/.201/.237 (28 wRC+) in a career-high 58 games while posting middling defensive numbers. That should open the door to a healthy amount of playing time for Driscoll, particularly if he hits well enough to justify occasional reps at first base, DH, or in the outfield on days where Rortvedt is catching. With Jackson seemingly a longshot to be retained on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason, a strong performance from Driscoll down the stretch this year could put him firmly in the mix alongside Rortvedt and Rene Pinto for a big league catching job next spring.

As for Littell, the right-hander’s return from the injured list should allow the club to move lefty Tyler Alexander back into a relief role going forward and utilize a rotation of Littell, Taj Bradley, Shane Baz, Ryan Pepiot, and Jeffrey Springs down the stretch. Littell’s first season as a full-time starting pitcher has gone quite well, as the right-hander has posted a 3.89 ERA with a 4.11 FIP in 129 2/3 innings of work across 24 starts. That’s right in line with the work Littell did with the Rays last year after being acquired from Boston early in the season, as he posted a 3.96 ERA and 3.99 FIP with the Rays in 2023 while swinging between the bullpen and rotation.

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Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Logan Driscoll Zack Littell

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Rays Place Colin Poche On 15-Day IL, Designate Erasmo Ramirez

By Mark Polishuk | August 31, 2024 at 11:49am CDT

The Rays announced a series of roster moves today, including the news that left-hander Colin Poche was placed on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder.  Right-hander Erasmo Ramirez was also designated for assignment, and right-handers Cole Sulser and Hunter Bigge were called up from Triple-A to fill the two spots on the active roster.  Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported on the moves shortly before the team’s official announcement, and also noted that catcher Logan Driscoll has been added to the taxi squad, perhaps in advance of a contract selection tomorrow when rosters expand to 28 players.

Poche has been a reliable bullpen arm for the last three seasons, with his excellent 2.23 ERA over 60 2/3 innings in 2023 sandwiched between 2022 and 2024 campaigns that were more solid than spectacular.  This year, Poche has a 3.67 ERA, 22.3% strikeout rate, and 9.4% walk rate over 34 1/3 innings for Tampa.

He missed a little over six weeks of the season due to back problems, and now this second IL stint could potentially put the rest of his 2024 campaign in jeopardy, given the lack of time remaining in the regular season.  However, Poche told Topkin that he hopes to pitch again before the year is out, and an MRI didn’t seem to reveal anything structurally wrong with his shoulder.

Sulser and Bigge will be tasked with covering the innings left over by Poche and Ramirez, who is headed to the DFA wire for the fourth time in the last 14 months.  The Rays previously designated Ramirez back in May and then outrighted him off the 40-man roster, only to select his contract again earlier this week.

Because Ramirez has a past outright on his resume, he has the ability to reject another outright assignment (if he clears waivers) and opt into free agency.  Since the veteran righty chose to remain in the organization in May, it would seem that he’s more likely than not to again accept the outright assignment, continuing his longstanding ties in Tampa Bay.  Ramirez first pitched for the Rays from 2015-17 before rejoining the team last season, and 377 1/3 of his 849 career MLB innings have come in a Tampa uniform.

This season, Ramirez has a 4.35 ERA in 20 2/3 frames for the Rays, working mostly in a mop-up capacity and eating multiple innings when he has been on the team’s 26-man roster.  Another team in need of experienced pitching could put in a claim to bring Ramirez aboard in a similar capacity, but chances are Ramirez will clear waivers and remain in Tampa’s farm system as bullpen depth.

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Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Cole Sulser Colin Poche Erasmo Ramirez Hunter Bigge Logan Driscoll

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